Girls with attitude is slightly different than actual 'teenage angst' because it is more of a put-on, a show, a pretend self-assertion, whereas the 'troubled teen' is a girl who has gone beyond attitude into real problems that can become dangerous to others and to herself.

A troubled teen, unlike girls with attitude, may have little interest at all in learning at school and can even be violent, depressed, suicidal, or start over-indulging in drugs and the old standby, alcohol. The teen girl may be easy to anger or the other side of the coin, morose, much of the time. She could also be stealing items from home or shops and snubbing school-related activities, school work and generally giving the 'thumbs down' to being around girls with a positive attitude. Such things are a few of the signs that a teen is considered in need of counsel, and it is usually a culmination of a number of such events and problems that finally cause the girl to be labeled as a troubled teen, rather than how she may have started out--one of the girls with attitude.