What is autonomy? How are individual factors (such as temperament and physical development) and social factors (such as parents, family climate and peers) related to the development of autonomy in adolescence? What is the ideal relationship between autonomy and attachment?
From day one, the development of a human being is aimed at changing from a largely dependent individual into a relatively independent individual. Also from day one, parents in general try to prepare their children step by step into self-supporting adults: adults who make their own choices, who feel confident about following their own desires and who can reach their own goals.
This struggle from childhood to adulthood, from dependence to independence is most apparent during adolescence. This is the period in which the relationship between children and their parents is transformed into a more equivalent relationship. Their relationship is renegotiated, with the adolescent's independence or autonomy as its primary objective.
This book deals with the characteristics and correlates of adolescent autonomy:
1. concepts, dimensions and observations of autonomy;
2. individual and social factors related to the growth of autonomy; and
3. the interplay of autonomy and attachment in predicting psychosocial adjustment.
Marc Noom studied development psychology. Since 1991 he is a researcher in the field of adolescence.
