How Adolescents Approach Decisions: Changes over Grades Seven to Twelve and Policy Implications.

LEWIS, CATHERINE C. How Adolescents Approach Decisions: Changes over Grades Seven to Twelve and Policy Implications. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1981, 52, 538-544. Considerable controversy focuses on the ages at which adolescents are permitted to make legally regulated decisions-for example, consent to medical treatment, consent to experimentation, choice of custodial parent. The decision advice of 108 adolescents at three grade levels (grades 7-8, 10, and 12) was investigated in a simulated peer-counseling situation. In adolescents' advice to their "peers," there is a significant increase, with grade level, in mention of the potential risks and potential future consequences of decisions; in recognition and cautious treatment of "vested interests"; and in advice to solicit independent professional opinions. No differences between grade levels are found in the incorporation of negative information about a trusted adult or in recommendations that peers or parents be consulted about the decisions.

[1]  Concept Conservation in Children: The Dependence of Belief Systems on Semantic Representation. , 1971 .

[2]  M. E. Shaw,et al.  CONFORMITY AS A FUNCTION OF AGE LEVEL , 1966 .

[3]  Children's approaches to chance- and skill-dependent risk. , 1975 .

[4]  J. Pleck,et al.  Adolescent perceptions of time: the effect of age, sex, and social class. , 1969, Journal of personality.

[5]  J. Pleck,et al.  Linear estimations of temporal extension: the effect of age, sex, and social class. , 1969, Journal of projective techniques & personality assessment.

[6]  R. Josselson.  Adolescence in the life cycle , 1977 .

[7]  Clay V. Brittain,et al.  Adolescent choices and parent-peer cross pressures. , 1963 .

[8]  Stephen L. Klineberg,et al.  Changes in outlook on the future between childhood and adolescence. , 1967 .

[9]  Gordon Je,et al.  Some personal and situational determinants of yielding to influence. , 1960 .

[10]  R. Hess,et al.  The status of adolescents in American society: a problem in social identity. , 1957, Child development.

[11]  A. Davids,et al.  Juvenile delinquents then and now: comparison of findings from 1959 and 1974. , 1975, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[12]  B. Steinlauf.  Problem-solving skills, locus of control, and the contraceptive effectiveness of young women. , 1979, Child development.

[13]  R. R. Blake,et al.  The development of stereotypes concerning the Negro. , 1943 .

[14]  D. Elkind.  Children and adolescents : interpretive essays on Jean Piaget , 1970 .

[15]  I. Iscoe,et al.  MODIFICATION OF CHILDREN'S JUDGMENTS BY A SIMULATED GROUP TECHNIQUE: A NORMATIVE DEVELOPMENTAL STUDY. , 1963, Child development.