While applying the youth lens to the book Eleanor and Park, you can see how both of the characters grew up to be who they are. Starting with Eleanor, she was raised in a poor and partly abusive environment. Growing up in poverty would cause Eleanor to mature faster than others. She never had all the resources others were privileged with, causing her to find solutions to her needs on her own. For some families in poverty the adolescents would have to help provide around the house or even work to contribute to the support of the family although Eleanor didn't necessarily need to work to help provide for her family. Eleanor's step father was rather abusive, causing her to isolate herself from her family. The isolation from her family translates out of her house to school and other environments. We could see that Eleanor liked to keep to herself and was very shy due to the house she was raised in.
     Park on the other hand was raised in a much different house. Parks family was very family orientated and not necessarily in poverty. Park had a family to care for him, he didn't need to mature as fast at Eleanor since she had to care for herself. An inviting home environment didn't make Park feel like he needed to keep to himself. There was no horrific punishment for actions he made, making it safe for him to communicate with his parents and others around him. Parks house was not as demanding as Eleanor's, there was never the constant stress of keeping the house and family afloat, creating a more relaxing environment. When it comes to the development of adolescents, the environment one grows up in can transform the adolescent into the person they become.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1086296X15568926
http://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1/9322/Petrone_JLR_2015_02_A1b.pdf?sequence=1
http://www.rainbowrowell.com/eleanor-park/