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I was a middle school teacher for several years, so I know the knee-jerk aversion to authority well. It tended to manifest a little more commonly in boys than in girls, but there were at least a few or each each year, and at that age there seemed to be a few commonalities.
1. Presenting behavior. Some were showing off, or thought that being defiant was cool or showed how tough they were, or were showing off for the opposite sex students.
2. Argument from ignorance. If I don't know why something is against the rules, or don't understand the reasoning, then the rule is unreasonable.
3. Personal inconvenience. This seemed to be by far the most common reason for defiance. I want to be able to do A, so the rule against A is unreasonable.
4. Personal exception: I understand the rule against A, and reasoning behind it, and it's a good rule for the most part, but I should be the exception because I can do activity A in such a way as to not cause the problems the rule seeks to prevent.
5. Unique exception: This is a one-time thing and it's very important to me, therefore the rule should not apply to me. The problem here is that, though there may be rare exceptions, everyone has a different level for what is important enough to qualify for the exception, most people have an elevated sense of importance for their own stuff, and the moment one exception is made, everyone feels entitled to the same exception.
These attitudes seem to have faded a bit by the time they reach college age, though it continues to be more common among the boys than the girls, and seems to resurface a bit in the older students, especially those in their 50's or older.
Gilda
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