"the boy who would not grow up": maturity and physiological responses of juvenile offenders

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
2014
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Alabama Libraries
Abstract

Developmental maturity is an important concept with serious legal repercussions for adolescent offenders (Kent v. U.S., 1966; Roper v. Simmons, 2005). Recent research has emphasized the neurobiological correlates of adolescent behavior, but there is little understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of maturity. The current study explored maturity in adolescent offenders using both physiological and psychological tests to assess emotional reactivity. Correlational and regression analyses were used to evaluate the relationship between a measure of heart rate (vagal tone) and skin conductance and several self-report measures of maturity. Findings indicated that adolescent maturity is composed of several different constructs and some constructs appear to share neurobiological underpinnings. Specifically, emotional reactivity appears to be one construct of adolescent maturity composed of several sub-constructs that can be indexed using heart rate, skin conductance, and psychological tests. Legal and clinical implications are discussed.

Description
Electronic Thesis or Dissertation
Keywords
Psychology
Citation