Adolescence and Maturity
For the teen-ager, maturity has the advantages of freedom-a chance to bring aspirations in line with ability-and an increased feeling of security. The disadvantages are that one is held accountable for his or her behavior, that one is alone in an unfriendly world, and that there is little guidance from others.
Intellectual maturity, growing strongly between sixteen and twenty-five years of age, is indicated by such behavior as making up one's own mind, taking responsibility, and learning the difference between compromise, rigidity, and mindless confonnity.
Social maturity is sort of "psychological weaning," with no clear-cut ages defined. It is indicated by such behavior as selfreliance, examiIlation of prejudices, and the ability to amuse oneself. It also involves freedom from conformity to fads.
Emotional maturity also has no age boundaries. Some adults never get beyond adolescence. Among the indicators of growing up emotionally are the ability to adjust to stress, become selective in what to worry about, and discover harmless ways of letting off steam.
Mature adult morality is stable. It does not vary with the environment and is indicated by tolerance, understanding, and adjustment to rules and laws. The teen-ager wants this kind of morality also. but now. Adolescent morals are often lofty, often idealistic. The teen-ager wants to solve the world's problems overnight. He or she typically responds to problem situations by saying, "It's not fair."
The adolescent is puzzled by what he or she sees as changing of adolescence moral standards-sexual revolutions versus old-fashioned morals. Something about the life of swinging shl.gles bothers both males and females. One university reports that freshmen chose in large numbers to live in a cooed dormitory, but before the year was over, they asked for rooms in dorms separating the sexes. One senior dorm counselor says: "As I see them mature, their attitudes become a little more conservative. "
Academic maturity comes slowly. One finds both the "underachievers," whose performance falls below their potential, and the "overachievers," who exceed expectation. Many of the problems of dropouts center on failure to reach academic maturity-failure that can be overcome in the right climate. Basically, however, there is no "normal" age range for attaining academic maturity.