Problem novel is a term used to refer to a sub-genre

Genre

Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...

 of young adult literature

Young adult literature

Young-adult fiction or young adult literature , also juvenile fiction, is fiction written for, published for, or marketed to adolescents and young adults, roughly ages 14 to 21. The Young Adult Library Services of the American Library Association defines a young adult as "someone between the...

 that deal exclusively with an adolescent's first confrontation with a social or personal ill. The term was first used in the late 1960s to differentiate contemporary works like The Outsiders

The Outsiders (novel)

The Outsiders is a coming-of-age novel based in 1965 by S. E. Hinton, first published in 1967 by Viking Press. Hinton was 15 when she started writing the novel, but did most of the work when she was sixteen and a junior in high school. Hinton was 18 when the book was published...

from earlier fiction for adolescents. The term is rather loosely defined. RoseMary Honnold in The Teen Reader's Advisor defines them as dealing more with characters from lower-class families and their problems; being "grittier"; using more realistic language; and including dialects, profanity, and poor grammar when it fits the character and setting. Sometimes, "problem novel" is used almost interchangeably with "young adult novel"; but many YA novels do not fit these criteria. The term is increasingly used in a negative fashion, and is rarely used by children's literature journals such as The ALAN Review.

Notable problem novels:
The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye is a 1951 novel by J. D. Salinger. Originally published for adults, it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage confusion, angst, alienation, language, and rebellion. It has been translated into almost all of the world's major...

, often considered one of the progenitors of modern young adult literature, is sometimes considered a problem novel.

The Outsiders

The Outsiders (novel)

The Outsiders is a coming-of-age novel based in 1965 by S. E. Hinton, first published in 1967 by Viking Press. Hinton was 15 when she started writing the novel, but did most of the work when she was sixteen and a junior in high school. Hinton was 18 when the book was published...

(1967) and The Pigman

The Pigman

The Pigman is a young adult novel written by Paul Zindel, first published in 1968. Zindel wrote a screenplay, adapting the book for the stage and screen, but it was not taken up by any film maker.-Plot:...

are problem novels written specifically for teenagers. However, Sheila Egoff notes in Thursday's Child: Trends and Patterns in Contemporary Children's Literature that the Newbery Award winning novel It's Like This, Cat

It's Like This, Cat

It's Like This, Cat is a novel written by Emily Cheney Neville that won the Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature in 1964.-Plot summary:...

(1964) may have established "the problem novel formula." Go Ask Alice

Go Ask Alice

Go Ask Alice is a controversial 1971 book about the life of a troubled teenage girl. The book continues its claim to be the actual diary of an anonymous teenage girl who became addicted to drugs, but this has been dismissed as false. Beatrice Sparks is listed as the author of the book by the United...

is an early example of the subgenre and is often considered an example of the negative aspects of the form.