TY - JOUR
T1 - Adolescents' cognitive capacity reaches adult levels prior to their psychosocial maturity
T2 - Evidence for a "maturity gap" in a multinational, cross-sectional sample
AU - Icenogle, Grace
AU - Steinberg, Laurence
AU - Duell, Natasha
AU - Chein, Jason
AU - Chang, Lei
AU - Chaudhary, Nandita
AU - Di Giunta, Laura
AU - Dodge, Kenneth A.
AU - Fanti, Kostas A.
AU - Lansford, Jennifer E.
AU - Oburu, Paul
AU - Pastorelli, Concetta
AU - Skinner, Ann T.
AU - Sorbring, Emma
AU - Tapanya, Sombat
AU - Tirado, Liliana M.Uribe
AU - Alampay, Liane P.
AU - Al-Hassan, Suha M.
AU - Takash, Hanan M.S.
AU - Bacchini, Dario
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 American Psychological Association.
PY - 2019/2/1
Y1 - 2019/2/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Adolescence
KW - Age of majority
KW - Cross-national
KW - Law
KW - Maturity
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U2 - 10.1037/lhb0000315
DO - 10.1037/lhb0000315
M3 - Article
C2 - 30762417
AN - SCOPUS:85061617264
SN - 0147-7307
VL - 43
SP - 69
EP - 85
JO - Law and Human Behavior
JF - Law and Human Behavior
IS - 1
ER -