Adolescents' Psychosocial Maturity, Problem Behavior, and Subjective Age: In Search of the Adultoid

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Abstract
The objectives of this study were to seek empirical confirmation for the existence of a group of adolescents whose maturity status could be labeled as adultoid, and to identify psychosocial correlates of adolescents' maturity status. Cluster analysis of questionnaire data from 209 predominantly White adolescents (10-18 years old) in working- and middle-class 2-parent families identified 3 maturity status groups: adultoids (low psychosocial maturity, high problem behavior, older subjective age); matures (high psychosocial maturity, low problem behavior, slightly older subjective age); and immatures (low psychosocial maturity, low problem behavior, young subjective age). Regressions revealed that several adolescent- and mother-reported variables were linked to maturity status. Relative to their mature and immature counterparts, adultoid adolescents exhibited more advanced physical maturity, earlier expectations for attaining privileges, higher social involvement, and in boys, higher mother-adolescent conflict. Adultoid adolescents do exist, and they differ from mature and immature adolescents in important ways. These results have implications for understanding the diversity in adolescents' levels of maturity.

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