‘Man You’ve Been a Naughty Boy, You Let your Face Grow long’ On the celebration of negative affect in adolescence

In this paper the authors explore the phenomena of positive attitudes towards negative affect among young adolescent as reflected in the appearance and behaviours of ‘radical peer crowds’, such as Punks, Goths and Emos. The authors consider the significance of this in relation to the history of melancholy and theories of identity formation.