ephebiphobia

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἔφηβος (éphēbos, “youth”) +‎ -phobia. The coinage of this term is attributed to a 1994 article by Kirk Astroth published in Phi Delta Kappan.

Noun

ephebiphobia (uncountable)

1. An irrational fear of adolescent people.
   • 2009 March 17, Tanya Byron, “‘We see children as pestilent’”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Such quotes illustrate what I believe has become a historically nurtured and culturally damaging phenomenon: ephebiphobia—the fear of youth. But today this problem is worse than ever.

   • 2011, Gosia M. Brykczynska, Joan Simons, editors, Ethical and Philosophical Aspects of Nursing Children and Young People, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 101:

     Indeed, Byron (2009) suggests that ephebiphobia (fear of youth) is a historically nurtured and culturally damaging phenomenon that is worse today than ever.

   • 2012, Barry Keith Grant, editor, Film Genre Reader IV, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 585:

     However, Hollywood studios did not suddenly blank on hedonistic teen roles in the early 1950s: their process of introducing the postwar teenager was careful if not apprehensive, as they gradually exaggerated the ephebiphobia—fear of teenagers—that was seeping into popular culture and politics.

See also

• hebephobia