Adolescence is a time of constant change and development of body, mind, and emotions. The process of metamorphosis into adulthood brings excitement but also challenges.

Increased awareness of self is an important facet of development into adulthood. Children are comparatively blissfully ignorant of their clothing, their hair, their skin, their smell. Relatively suddenly, all that changes. The challenges vary for different individuals. Young adults fall into four groups from this perspective.

Some lucky people just seem to grow into swans without any aspects of physical change that bother them.

A second group experience changes which may go against the accepted stereotypes of beauty and style, with which we are bombarded in all media, but are not bothered. Their self-esteem and confidence is such that physical imperfections are not a concern.

For another group, there are no adverse developments, but self-consciousness is so acute that there is anxiety about meeting the ideals of perfection that are the cultural norm.

In the last group, there is both physical imperfection (as measured against our cultural yardstick of acceptability) and insecurity about appearance. This is the group that suffers the most from image anxiety.

The good news is that what is perceived to be an imperfection today may not be tomorrow, either by cultural or personal standards, and there's a lot that can be done to change the mindset so that what seems to be less than perfect is no longer a source of embarrassment or self-conscious worry.