Adolescents' Cognitive Capacity Reaches Adult Levels Prior to Their Psychosocial Maturity: Evidence for a "Maturity Gap" in a Multinational, Cross-Sectional Sample
Adolescents' Cognitive Capacity Reaches Adult Levels Prior to Their Psychosocial Maturity: Evidence for a "Maturity Gap" in a Multinational, Cross-Sectional Sample
复制标题
DOI：
10.1037/lhb0000315
复制
发表时间：
2019-02-01
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Bacchini, Dario
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Icenogle, Grace;Steinberg, Laurence;Bacchini, Dario
所有国家都出于各种法律的目的对未成年人和成年人加以区分。美国最高法院最近关于青少年法律的地位的案件咨询了心理科学来决定在哪里划定这些界限。然而，人们对相关研究的可靠性知之甚少，因为它主要是在美国和其他西方国家进行的。在某种程度上，立法者希望研究来指导他们的决定，重要的是要知道科学结论的普遍性。本研究考察了与青少年成熟度有关的法律的问题的两个心理现象：认知能力，它是逻辑思维的基础;心理社会成熟度，它包括个体在面对情绪、兴奋或危险刺激时克制自己的能力。这些结构的年龄模式在来自11个国家的5，227名个体（50.7%女性）中进行了评估，年龄为10-30岁（M = 17.05，SD = 5.91）。重要的是，虽然认知能力在16岁左右达到成人水平，但心理社会成熟度在18岁以后达到成人水平，在认知和心理社会发展之间形成了“成熟度差距”。青少年可能在16岁时就有能力进行深思熟虑的决策，但即使是年轻的成年人也可能在唤起的情况下表现出“不成熟”的决策。因此，我们认为，为不同的法律的目的设定不同的年龄界限是合理的：对于认知能力占主导地位的事项，设定1岁的年龄界限;对于心理社会成熟度起重要作用的事项，设定1岁的年龄界限。
All countries distinguish between minors and adults for various legal purposes. Recent U.S. Supreme Court cases concerning the legal status of juveniles have consulted psychological science to decide where to draw these boundaries. However, little is known about the robustness of the relevant research, because it has been conducted largely in the U.S. and other Western countries. To the extent that lawmakers look to research to guide their decisions, it is important to know how generalizable the scientific conclusions are. The present study examines 2 psychological phenomena relevant to legal questions about adolescent maturity: cognitive capacity, which undergirds logical thinking, and psychosocial maturity, which comprises individuals' ability to restrain themselves in the face of emotional, exciting, or risky stimuli. Age patterns of these constructs were assessed in 5,227 individuals (50.7% female), ages 10-30 (M = 17.05, SD = 5.91) from 11 countries. Importantly, whereas cognitive capacity reached adult levels around age 16, psychosocial maturity reached adult levels beyond age 18, creating a "maturity gap" between cognitive and psychosocial development. Juveniles may be capable of deliberative decision making by age 16, but even young adults may demonstrate "immature" decision making in arousing situations. We argue it is therefore reasonable to have different age boundaries for different legal purposes: 1 for matters in which cognitive capacity predominates, and a later 1 for matters in which psychosocial maturity plays a substantial role.