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Psychological age refers to the subjective age-equivalent of a person or how old one feels.
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Psychological age is how old one feels, acts, and behaves, and is thus not necessarily equal to chronological age, which is age since birth [1]. A person can therefore have a psychological age that exceeds their chronological age if they are mature or at least feel older than they really are. For example, this may be common in adolescence when young teens that feel older than they really are engage in behaviors typical of late teens and early adults. There is some indication that social maturity and achievement motivation in teens which could be associated with an advanced psychological age, for example, is associated with a parenting environment that is authoritative, emotionally warm, democratic, and firm. On the negative side, teens feeling older than they are may get involved in risk-taking...
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References
Psychological age test: http://en.nienteansia.it/tests/mental-age-test.html
Kolodinsky, J., Cranwell, M., & Rowe, E. (2002). Bridging the generation gap across the digital divide: Teens teaching internet skills to senior citizens. Journal of Extension, 40.
Smith, T. W. (1994). Generational differences in music preferences. Popular Music and Society, 18, 43–59.
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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
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Symons, D.K. (2011). Psychological Age. In: Goldstein, S., Naglieri, J.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2298
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2298
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-77579-1
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-79061-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science