Adolescents receive care from different specialists whose training may affect the quality of care. To measure possible effects, all 80 level 1 and level 3 pediatric and medical residents at 1 institution completed a questionnaire that asked if they planned to care for adolescents and determined their attitudes and skills for 30 relevant tasks. The mean age chosen for transfer of care from a pediatrician to an internist was 18.7 yr by the pediatric residents and 16.6 yr by the medical residents (P = 0.00001). Skill in obtaining histories; staging puberty; screening for scoliosis; performing pelvic examinations; diagnosing delayed puberty, psychiatric disorders or learning disabilities; immunizing; and treating knee and hip pain more often were thought to be important by pediatric residents (88%-100%) than by medical residents (40%-75%) (P < 0.02). More than 70% of PL-3 [pediatric level-3] but fewer than 50% of ML-3 [medical level-3] residents rated themselves skilled for these tasks (P < 0.05). Fewer than 60% of each resident group rated themselves skilled in contraception. Both groups rated themselves underskilled in adolescent history-taking; counseling; evaluation of psychopathology; and treatment of dysmenorrhea and hypertension. In both groups, the decision to care for an adolescent was negatively influenced by the presence of a psychosocial disorder. Both pediatric and medical residents plan to care for adolescents, and both recognize deficiencies in their training. Pediatric residents, however, are more confident of their skills in adolescent care than are medical residents.