Refusing to be told what to do or how to act, these characters will regularly lash out at authority, either passively or overtly, and often times reject the accepted mores of society. Examples of rebellious behavior include skipping school, smoking cigarettes, and getting into frequent arguments with authority figures such as teachers and parents.

Note that the motivation behind their behavior is important. Not all smokers or school skippers, or smoking school skippers, are rebellious. Their actions have to be primarily motivated purely by the will to defy.