Autonomy In Childhood

Autonomy “refers to an adolescent’s growing ability to think, feel, make decisions, and act on her or his own.” The development of an individual’s autonomy starts long before the individual reaches puberty. When toddlers begin to explore their surroundings on their own and insist to do that as they please, they are creating a sense of autonomy. From an evolutionary view, adolescents search for independence is a natural effect of sexual and physical maturation, and going away from home after the individual reaches puberty has been observed not just in humans, but in other primates as well (Casey et al., 2010; Steinberg, 2014). “Puberty drives the adolescent away from exclusive emotional dependence on the family.” Also, cognitive changes are
crucial factors in the development of autonomy. Being autonomous person requires being able to make independent decisions, being able to detect how other’s perspectives influences yours (this includes intellectual abstraction), being able to think rationally, and being able to predict the future consequences of particular actions. There are three types of autonomy described by psychologists (McElhaney et al., 2009; Zimmer-Gembeck, Ducat, & Collins, 2011).
The first one is emotional autonomy, where the individual stablishes more adultlike and less immature close relationships, mainly with parents. The second one is behavioral autonomy, where the individual is able to make independent decisions and “follow through on them.” The third one is cognitive autonomy or sometimes called value autonomy, where the individual has their own values, beliefs, and opinions. The relationship between parents and their children go through different changes over the cycle of life. For example, changes in the expression of affection, the distribution of power, and patterns of verbal interaction. We can see the changes in the adolescent-parent relationship where the development of emotional autonomy is reflected in the following cases: older adolescents usually do not hurry their parents when they feel perturbed and need help, they don’t see their parents as powerful or divine persons, and they frequently feel a stronger attachment to people outside the family like a boyfriend or girlfriend than their own parents (McElhaney et al., 2009; Zimmer-Gembeck, Ducat & Collins,
2011). Anna Freud (1958) asserted that “the physical changes in puberty cause disruption and conflict in the family.” In addition, Freud concluded that those repressed intrapsychic conflicts since early childhood arouse at early adolescence by resurgent sexual impulses. As a result, early adolescents are forced to set apart themselves from their parents emotionally and they take their emotional energies to relationships with friends, especially with those of the opposite sex. This process is called detachment where adolescents detach emotional attachments to their parents.
During adolescence, emotional autonomy demand transformation, not a separation, of family members. They can become emotionally autonomous without becoming detached from their parents (Laursen & Collins, 2009; McElhaney et al., 2009; Van Petegem, Vansteenkiste, & Beyers, 2012). Also, those adolescents who are capable of keeping a stability between autonomy and connectedness in their relationships with parents also are better able to balance autonomy and intimacy in their friendships and romantic relationships (Oudekirk, Allen, Hessel, & Molloy, 2015; Taradash, Conolly, Pepler, Craig, & Costa, 2001). Some theorists have kept the idea that “we view the development of emotional autonomy in terms of the adolescent’s developing sense of individuation” (Blos, 1967). Individuation starts in infancy and continues into late adolescence and imply a growing improvement of one’s self as autonomous, competent, and detach from parents. In contrast to detachment, individuation involves discontinuing childish dependencies on parents in order to have a more responsible, mature and less dependent relationship (McElhaney et al., 2009; Zimmer-Gembeck, Ducat, & Collins,
2011). A person with a healthy sense of individuation accepts responsibility for their decisions and actions (Van Petegem, Beyers, Vansteenkiste, & Soenens, 2012). It is very crucial that adolescent acquire a strong sense of autonomy to be able to have decision-making abilities (think better, weigh options, and see future consequences of their actions), feelings of self-reliance (act on their own accord), and conformity (make decisions independently of their peers).