Autonomy

• Autonomy


  Becoming an autonomous- or self governing- person is one of the fundamental characteristics/tasks of adolescence
• Independence


  Individuals capacity to behave on their own
• Autonomy


  Not just about acting independently, but feeling independent and thinking for oneself
• Components of Autonomy


  • Emotional Autonomy
  • Behavioral Autonomy
  • Cognitive Autonomy
• Emotional Autonomy


  Gaining emotional independence in relationships with others, especially parents
• Behavioral Autonomy


  Making independent decisions and following through on them
• Cognitive Autonomy


  Developing an independent set of beliefs and principles, resisting peer and parental pressures
• Emotional Autonomy


  • Influenced by psychoanalytic theory and concept of detachment
  • Process by which adolescents sever the emotional attachment they have with parents or authority figures
  • Emotional autonomy involves a transformation, not a breaking, of family relationships
  • Adolescents can develop emotional autonomy without becoming detached from parents
  • Youth who are better able to balance autonomy and connectedness with parents are better adjusted
• Individuation


  Process of individuation begins during infancy<|>Does not involve stress or turmoil<|>Acceptance of responsibility for choices and actions
• Emotional Autonomy and Individuation


  Gradual, progressive sharpening of ones sense of self as autonomous, separate from parents<|>Shift from dependence on parents to a more mature, responsible, and less dependent relationship<|>Acceptance of responsibility for choices and actions
• Adolescents are better adjusted when their desire for autonomy matches their parents' willingness to grant autonomy


  • Healthy individuation and positive mental health are fostered by close, not distant, family relationships
  • Authoritative parenting is linked with greater emotional autonomy
• Behavioral Autonomy


  Ability to act independently<|>Observed both inside and outside the family (with parents and peers)<|>Capacity for independent decision making
• Changes in Decision Making

  1. Decision-making abilities improve across adolescence

  2. Older adolescents more likely to consider both the risks and benefits associated with the decisions they make and weigh the long-term consequences of their choices

  3. Improved decision-making abilities are likely due to decline in the influence of immediate rewards and improvement in ability to control impulses
• Which reward would you choose?

  • You could have $700 today or wait one year for $1500
• Younger adolescents are especially drawn to immediate rewards

  This graph shows age differences in the amount of money individuals would settle for if they could have it immediately, versus waiting one year for $1,000
• Changes in Susceptibility to Influence

  Conformity to peers is higher during middle adolescence than later adolescence<|>Parents are more influential regarding long-term issues, basic values<|>Peers' opinions are more influential for day-to-day matters (music tastes or clothing style)
• Individual Differences in Susceptibility to Influence

  • Girls less susceptible to peer pressure than boys
  • Black adolescents less susceptible than adolescents from other ethnic backgrounds
  • Asian American adolescents highly susceptible to peer influence
  • Youth with authoritative parents show better abilities to resist peer influences
  • Brain imaging studies show individual differences in neural activity are related to individual differences in susceptibility to peer influence
• Adolescents are more susceptible to peer influence than adults are


  This figure shows two brain scans, one taken while adolescents were playing a driving game when there friends were watching, and the other taken when the adolescents were playing alone. The area surrounded by the yellow rectangle is a part of the brain that is activated when we experience reward. One reason adolescents may behave more recklessly when they are with their friends is that the presence of peers may make them pay more attention to the potential rewards of a risky choice.
• Ethnic and Cultural Differences in Expectations for Autonomy

  White adolescents and their parents have earlier expectations for autonomy than do Asian adolescents and parents<|>In general, very few (if any) sex or birth order differences in behavioral autonomy<|>Depends on the number of sons and daughters in the home<|>Depends on parents' attitudes toward sex roles
• Cognitive Autonomy


  Changes in the adolescents beliefs, opinions and values<|>Adolescents' beliefs become more abstract, more rooted in general principles, and more founded in the young person's own values<|>Cognitive autonomy occurs later in adolescence and is encouraged by emotional and behavioral autonomy
• Moral Development During Adolescence

  How individuals think about moral dilemmas and make moral judgments<|>Prosocial behavior: Acts people engage in to help others
• Heinz Dilemma


  A hypothetical moral dilemma about whether Heinz should steal a drug to save his wife's life
• Stages in Moral Reasoning in Adolescence

  • Preconventional Moral Reasoning (worrying about punishment/reward)
  • Conventional Moral Reasoning (following societal rules and norms)
  • Postconventional Moral Reasoning (most abstract and advanced)
• • Most adolescents and adults think in conventional terms, bound by societal rules
  • Post-conventional reasoning is relatively rare
  • Moral behavior does not always match moral reasoning
  • Contextual factors influence how a person acts when facing moral dilemmas in the real world
  • Moral disengagement: Rationalizing immoral behavior as legitimate
• Prosocial Behavior


  Helping behavior<|>During adolescence, individuals tend to devalue prosocial acts that are done for self-serving purposes and value those done out of empathy
• Civic Engagement


  Involvement in political and community affairs, as reflected in knowledge about politics and current affairs, participation in conventional and alternative political activities, and engaging in community service<|>Service Learning: Process of learning through community service<|>Pros and cons of making service learning a requirement
• Religious Beliefs During Adolescence

  Across adolescence, religious beliefs become more abstract, more principled, and more independent<|>The importance of religion—and participation in an organized religion—declines
• Religiosity


  Religious practices (rituals, routines) may be more closely related to identity development
• Spirituality


  Quest for answers about the meaning of life and a higher power may be more closely linked to the development of cognitive autonomy
• • Compared to non-religious adolescents, religious adolescents are better adjusted, less depressed, less likely to engage in premarital sexual intercourse, less likely to use drugs, and less likely to engage in delinquent behavior
  • May be because religious adolescents have other positive influences in their life that promote positive development
  • However, abstaining from delinquent behavior and sexual behavior may be directly linked to religious beliefs