Emotional Autonomy as Risk or Protective Factor towards Social Adjustment of Adolescents

The present paper on “Emotional Autonomy as Risk or Protective Factor towards Social Adjustment of Adolescents” tries to investigate the contribution of emotional autonomy towards social adjustment of adolescents. The research was conducted on 240 adolescents (120 males & 120 females) belonging to two parent intact families. The Emotional Autonomy Scale by Steinberg and Silverberg (1986) was used to assess emotional autonomy among adolescents Social Adjustment Inventory by Deva (1990) was used for the assessment of social adjustment among adolescents. Males were found to be significantly more emotional autonomous as compared to their female counterparts. Males highly perceived their parents as people, de-idealized from their parents at lower level, were more emotionally independent and were highly individualized as compared to their female counterparts. Males were socially well adjusted and significantly more mature than females. As per the results emotional autonomy acted as a protective factor towards social adjustment of adolescents irrespective of gender. However its contribution towards social adjustment was significantly greater in males as compared to females.