White coat bolts straight away, without making eye contact, and flees in horror to the embrace of the rest of her pack several metres away. Tan jacket stands her ground with the boys, a hostile look on her face. So what is it with teens today, they're asked.

Delivered by one of the boys, the brush-off is immediate and absolute. "We're kind of busy," he says, with a hard look on his face. Then he turns his back.

When Gordon Neufeld hears this story a few days later, he laughs. An experienced clinical psychologist in Vancouver, he recognizes the symptoms all too well. This is a sign of what he calls "peer-orientation" or "peer-attachment disorder," which he contends is a modern blight responsible for today's dangerous teen landscape and getting worse all the time.

So Dr. Neufeld, picture this: you're idly relaxing with your friends one Saturday on your usual stomping grounds, not bothering anyone, when some stranger you've never seen before in your life comes up to you out of nowhere and demands you justify your behaviour, adding that whatever response you happen to be able to think up on the spot will be published and used to judge your entire peer group.

WTF would you do?