title: The development of the individuation process from a social-cognitive perspective.
abstract: A sequence of four developmental levels for the individuation process, from a social-cognitive perspective, was proposed from late childhood to late adolescence. Individuation is defined as the separation of the self from family. The individuation interview, Selman's self-awareness measure and the Lunzer test were administered in 4th, 7th, 10th grades and a post-high school group (N = 78). Results confirmed age increases in individuation as follows: late childhood subjects consolidate on level I, exhibiting the dominance of parental view over individual perspectives; early adolescents on level 2, demonstrating an increased self-awareness and the beginning decline of parental view; mid-adolescents, on level 3, characterized by conflicts between the recognition of the autonomous self and the parental views; and late adolescents (young adults) on level 3 and level 4, showing the ability to integrate the parental view within the self-system without losing individuality. Further, construct validation confirmed the common as well as the discriminant qualities of the individuation sequence to self-awareness and Piagetian logical development. These results support the uniqueness of the individuation construct within the social-cognitive domain.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Behavioral Sciences, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mazor
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Enright
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007207:Individuation; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010553:Personality Development; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012649:Self Concept