Joanna Fortune: Should we be concerned about our teenage son's aggressive outbursts? 

"...the task of adolescence is to pull away from our parents and find our voice and identity in the world. Because of the intense change, teenagers do not always handle this with grace..."

The early stage of adolescence, approximately 13 to 15 years old, is peak puberty. During this time, teenagers are often overwhelmed and lack the emotional fluency to express themselves verbally or in a mature way, so they shout instead. 

My teenage son is becoming increasingly quick-tempered and is prone to very emotional and sometimes aggressive outbursts. At what point should we be very concerned?

Adolescence is a time of intense physiological, hormonal, social, and emotional change. It’s a phase of development where the goal is autonomy through a process of opposition and separation. In other words, the task of adolescence is to pull away from our parents and find our voice and identity in the world.