The present paper is part of the PhD dissertation presented and defended in the Faculty of Public Health-USP in 1995. It is a theorical piece of work in the field of Social Sciences. It aims at a critical analysis of the knowledge produced and used in the health area that has hegemonically directed the practice with adolescents uncovering the concept of adolescent/adolescence present in the Public Health discourse. The adopted conception is recognized by means of a historic deconstruction and reconstruction of the discourse under study with the use of the Social History research tools. Such conception represents the biomedical paradigm that has predominantly guided the production of knowledge and corresponding practices in the areas.
adolescent/adolescence; Public Health; discourse; social sciences