MATURITY OF JUDGMENT IN ADOLESCENCE - PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS IN ADOLESCENT DECISION-MAKING

To date, analyses of differences between adolescents' and adults' judg ment have emphasized age differences in cognitive factors presumed to affect decision making. In contrast, this article examines research an d theory on three psychosocial aspects of ii maturity of judgment: res ponsibility, temperance, and perspective. For several psychosocial dim ensions of maturity that are likely to affect judgment, the existing e vidence, while indirect and imperfect, indicates that the greatest dif ferences are found in comparisons between early adolescents versus mid dle and late adolescents. Developmental research on maturity that focu ses specifically on mid- and late adolescence, that simultaneously exa mines both cognitive and noncognitive factors, and that investigates t he relation between these factors and the ability to make good decisio ns is greatly needed.