The vicissitudes of autonomy in early adolescence

Child Dev. 1986 Aug;57(4):841-51. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1986.tb00250.x.

Abstract

A sample of 865 10-16-year-olds from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds completed a questionnaire battery concerning 3 aspects of autonomy: emotional autonomy in relationship with parents, resistance to peer pressure, and the subjective sense of self-reliance. The observed patterns of relations among the measures cast doubt on the notion that autonomy is a unidimensional trait manifested similarly across a variety of situations. For most boys and girls, the transition from childhood into adolescence is marked more by a trading of dependency on parents for dependency on peers, rather than straightforward and unidimensional growth in autonomy. Moreover, contrary to long-standing notions about the greater salience of autonomy to adolescent males than to females, girls score higher than boys on all 3 measures of autonomy at all age levels.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Age Factors
  • Child
  • Child Development*
  • Dependency, Psychological*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Parent-Child Relations
  • Peer Group
  • Personality*
  • Psychology, Adolescent
  • Sex Factors
  • Social Class
  • Social Conformity