“Beliefs become a self-fulfilling prophesy: Those who expect adolescence to be a period of turmoil are more likely to behave in a manner that provokes relationship deterioration compared with those who expect adolescence to be relatively benign.” (Collins, W. A., & Laursen, B., 2004, p.5)

Talking about relationships between adults (whether it be parents, guardians, teachers, mentors, etc.) and adolescents can be complicated. Adolescents are at a different phase in their life developmentally than they were when they were children and therefore, their relationships with adults change. Many times, adults have this preconceived notion that adolescents are difficult and “moody” and that because of these emotions there is nothing that they can do except for prepare themselves for the worst. However, this way of thinking may be setting adults up for failure when it comes to their relationships with adolescents without them even knowing.

As Collins and Laursen state, by expecting the worst out of adolescents adults may be setting themselves up for the worst by creating a self-fulfilling prophesy. By anticipating a “horrible period of turmoil”, adults may be behaving differently towards adolescents in order to try and prevent this “horrible period” which in return the adolescent reacts to and this and it may weaken their relationship with the adolescent. For example, when an adult anticipates that the adolescent time is going to be a horrible time, they may be stricter with the adolescent or get angry with the adolescent quicker which in return could lead to the adolescent getting angry as well and then becoming that “moody teenager” that the adult had already anticipated. In general, when we already tend to have preconceived notions about something, we react to situations based on our prejudices and without really being in the situation and being able to look at the situation objectively.