Page 179 - Meeting with Children Book

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Strang (1953) identified seven useful variables
related to maturity for consideration.
 Ability to feel with others; to see things from their
point of view
 To be objective towards oneself (recognition and
acceptance of one's own emotions as natural and
ability to project hypotheses about one's behavior)
 Ability to select suitable worthwhile, long-term
goals and to organize one's thinking and acting
around these goals
 Role flexibility: Ability to make adjustments to
situations
 Ability to meet unexpected stresses and
disappointments without emotional/physical
collapse
 Ability to give and receive affection
 Ability to form opinions on sound reasoning and
defend the opinion (but also to accept compromise)

The list above is more inclusive than the idea that
autonomy and independent thinking is enough to indicate
maturity. In family law, it is typical to use arbitrary markers
such as a child is mature enough to provide specific
decision-making input at the age of 12.

What can be expected from a normally
developing 13-18 year old?

Look for the following:
13 – 18 yrs Youth begins to focus on friends and
friendship groups