Self-actualization typically involves both a process that a person goes through to reach their self-defined fullest potential or the actual outcome or realization of that potential. The study of adolescence has tended to focus on the types of conditions that should be in place for adolescents to concern themselves with self-actualization. Despite an increasing focus on positive youth development and thriving during adolescence, the actual state of being self-actualized tends to be assumed to occur during adulthood. This assumption has meant, with some notable exceptions, that research on self-actualization has tended to ignore adolescents (see Lerner 2004).
Theory and research relating to self-actualization has many important roots. The most notable ones come from humanistic psychology, especially from the work of Abraham Maslow (1943, 1970). Maslow described self-actualization as a need for self-fulfillment. People who are self-actualized are deemed to be basically satisfied people,...
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References
Garg, R., Melanson, S., & Levin, E. (2007). Educational aspirations of male and female adolescents from single-parent and two biological parent families: A comparison of influential factors. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 36, 1010–1023.
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Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370–396.
Maslow, A. (1970). Motivation and personality (2nd ed.). New York: Harper and Row.
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Levesque, R.J.R. (2011). Self-actualization. In: Levesque, R.J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Adolescence. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1695-2_355
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