Some Observations of Maturational Factors in Young Children and Adolescents

The young child and the adolescent share a common problem. Each of them, beset by the tensions of rapid growth, must learn control of impulse. Ernest Jones (1922) commented on this similarity in his paper, "Some Problems of Adolescence," in which he discussed the recapitulation of infancy that occurs during adolescence. During the first five years, he stated, the child learns control over volitional motor outflow; in adolescence he gains control over emotional outflow. In both age periods maturation creates conflict and also, in normal individuals, new capacities with which to resolve it.

The maturational force has special interest for child analysts. We try to safeguard and promote the curative forces of growth in the young patient as we help him understand the problems which have prevented the development of normal outlets and controls. We are equally concerned with the ways in which the patient attains eventual mastery, for, paradoxically, constructive steps toward mastery may jeopardize his treatment. This is particularly true of adolescents whose healthy need to rebel causes them to turn against everything which they regard as external restraint. They feel compelled to relinquish help which they still require and want. The adolescents who act on such a wish are often the ones most in need of help. With these patients it is especially important to find ways to protect them against impulsive action. This paper is based on observations of young children who are learning to master impulse and of adolescent patients with severe regressions who must re-establish their ability to synthesize experience and to control their actions as well as their