The peevish put-downs, overweening sense of entitlement and volcanic temper tantrums could all hit uncomfortably close to home if Ferrell and Reilly didn't appreciate the ridiculous side of adolescent angst.

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People were showing up at early screenings in Kick-Ass T-shirts dressed as the various adolescent faux superheroes.

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The good news, in short, is that we don't have to just accept the developmental patterns of adolescent brains.

WSJ: What's Wrong With the Teenage Mind?

Other doctors simply don't want to broach the subject of sex with their adolescent female patients, he said.

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Being in a room with an openly lesbian professor and knowing that I was valued, rather than vilified, for the ways in which I didn't fit in was a soothing antidote to all those adolescent years of self-loathing and doubt.

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Children are many things these days, but they certainly aren't invisible -- especially on the Internet, where it is the kids, these adolescent messengers, who are becoming the McLuhanite message of our networked age.

CNN: Opinion: After Kony, should kids decide our morals?