Factors Influencing Age Expectations for Adolescent Autonomy: A Study of Early Adolescents and Parents

Abstract

Few societal guidelines exist to help parents or adolescents make decisions about the pacing of autonomy, yet parents and adolescents exhibit well-defined expectations as to what constitutes age-appropriate behavior. Little is known about the specific content of age-related expectations, or about the factors that influence the "timetabling" of these expectations. To explore these issues, the present study sampled 200 early adolescents and 170 parents of early adolescent sons. Subjects differed in gender, ethnicity, and the personality dimension of restraint. Subjects completed a 21-item questionnaire asking at what age they expected adolescents to engage in specific autonomy-related behaviors associated with adolescence. Results revealed that parents held significantly later age expectations than adolescents; Asians, substantially later than those of non-Asians; and those with highly restrained personalities markedly later than their low-restraint counterparts. Gender effects were absent. Results were discussed in terms of both the content of differentiating items and of group characteristics underlying differential expectations.