Which period of development is called, ‘A period of great stress and strain’?

In developmental psychology, G. Stanley Hall's classical theory of adolescence describes it as a period of "storm and stress" (Sturm und Drang) — a stage marked by rapid hormonal and physical change, heightened emotional volatility, identity conflict, and mood swings, distinguishing it sharply from the more settled phases of the human lifespan.

Among the four life stages offered, adolescence is the transitional bridge between childhood and adulthood, driven by puberty's hormonal surge alongside fast-changing cognitive and social demands (peer identity, exam and career pressure, independence-seeking versus parental control). This combination of biological upheaval and social-emotional adjustment is exactly what earns it the label "a period of great stress and strain."

The remaining stages do not fit that description as well. Adulthood follows puberty's turbulence with a relatively settled, established identity and role structure; middle age brings a life-goal reassessment (the so-called "midlife" phase) without puberty's hormonal upheaval; and old age is defined by physical decline and shifting social roles rather than identity-formation stress. None carries the intensity of biological-plus-psychosocial change that defines adolescence, confirming it as the period of great stress and strain.