Page 178 - Meeting with Children Book

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Seventeen-year-old teens are more in-control of their
moods and emotions than younger teens. They form
stronger relationships with friends. No more flitting back
and forth between cliques. They begin to see their future
and can feel both excited and apprehensive about it. The
17-year-old teen has less conflict with parents but will still
push for more independence. They will act independently.
Parents will see a difference in maturity at this age, as 17-
year-old teens tend to take more responsibility for
themselves. There are still emotional ups and downs, but
life skills continue to develop as they face difficult people
and situations in work place environments and have to
manage their emotions through trial and error experiences.

By late adolescence, the 18-year-old is attempting to
understand where he/she fits in the world. This is an age of
excitement and trepidation. This is the year the youth
becomes a legal adult in some parts of the world. Of
significance is the movement from highschool to post-
secondary school or to the workplace. All of the
independence skills accumulated to this point are now
called on. Increased cooperation and understanding of
others is typically on-line. A future view of partnering with
someone sexually is also part of the focus as this age group
continues to experiment in this domain.

Maturity
What constitutes "maturity"? Garber (2010) points out that
theory and research in this area does not present maturity
as an end state of being. He reviewed an early account of
maturity operationalized by Strang (1953).