8 Scientific Reasons Why Teenagers Are Completely Insane

7. Why They Dress So Stupid

Your teenage years are the time that you begin to distance yourself from your parents. This is obviously normal as, if we didn't, we'd still be living in our mum's basement as adults. This is not only a bad idea evolutionarily speaking, but also makes you more likely to fling abuse at people in the YouTube comments section. Anyway, the reason why this push away from the parental bosom affects clothing choice is that teenagers aren't exactly ready to strike out on their own yet, and end up looking for a surrogate family. The push for simultaneous individualism and belonging results in tribalism and the need to define themselves from the other groups whilst still fitting in with theirs. Also, bear in mind that teenagers don't really have many things that they can define themselves by. Adults might choose to express their identity through their job, their house, their children, the type of car they drive etc. Adults are also much more free to go where they want, do what they want and control their surroundings, whereas a lot of this is already decided for teenagers. Because teenagers are not given the same status as adults, subcultures compensate for the lack of status, acceptance and identity they find in larger society by creating self-contained mini-societies themselves in which they can enjoy those things without having to compete with those with more objective power than them (i.e. adults). And, hey, if the only way for a teenager to feel like they belong is to wear a safety pin through their nose, then so be it.