Understanding The Concept Of Maturity And Its Nature

The concept of maturity has not received a great deal of explicit attention in the literature. Delineation of libidinal development has been yielded the important formulation of the “Genital level” and “object-interest (Freud, 1924)”. Recent emphasis on the conflict between the regressive, dependents, versus the progressive, productive forces in the personality have directed interest towards the more detailed nature of maturity.

The term Mature refers to complete natural growth. The mature person has a mature attitude towards his/her own existence and the surrounding environment which lifts him/her beyond childishness in thought and behavior. Emotions are considered to be the Voices of Soul, parts that are intimately related to our psyche, to our primordial, spontaneous and intuitive being (Umesh, 2014). Maturity is referred to as the dedicated act to be with a project or a situation until it is accomplished successfully. This is the ability to deal with unpleasantness, frustration, discomfort and defeat without complaint or collapse. Maturity is the ability to maintain the significant social relationships. A mature person is supposed to harness his/her abilities and energies and do more than what is expected in his/her personal relationship.

Maturity as defined by Finlay (1996) “is the capacity of mind to endure an ability of an individual to respond to uncertainty, circumstances or environment in an appropriate manner.”

Murray (2003) pointed out that a person may be chronologically mature, but emotionally immature. A person may also be intellectually mature, but emotionally immature. There is no correlation between chronological age, intellectual age, social age, or emotional age. Just because someone is grown up by chronological age doesn't mean they are grown up emotionally. Chronological maturity and intellectual maturity combined with emotional immaturity is not uncommon and potentially dangerous. A person whose body and mind is adult, but whose emotional development is that of a child can wreak havoc in the lives of others as well as in him/her. Our relationships are dependent upon one total emotional development. The best way to understand our relationships is to understand our self. The single most important task for any person wishing to improve his relationships is to increase his self-esteem and emotional maturity. One who opines to determine the level of one’s emotional maturity, compare an individual’s behaviour to the symptoms of emotional immaturity and the characteristics of emotional maturity.

In today’s competitive world, it is difficult to live life comfortably and without the confrontation of difficulties and problems. These complications give rise to several psycho-somatic problems such as tension, anxiety, frustration and emotional upsets in day to day life. To combat with these problems, it seems important to attain a higher degree of emotional maturity. Emotional maturity became a matter of great concern because it is not only effective determinant of personality pattern but it also helps to control the growth of an adolescent’s development. The concept of mature emotional behavior related to any level of an individual gives rise to normal emotional development. If we talk about an emotionally mature child, it can be observed that he/she acquires the ability to effectively adjust with his/her own self, members of his/her family, peer groups at the school, society and the culture. It should also be noted that maturity means not merely the capacity for such attitude and functioning but also the ability to enjoy them fully. By birth, humans are not emotionally matured rather it is mastered by our relationships including the upbringing by our parents, and life experiences. Children gain maturity by validating, mirroring, loving, and accepting them unconditionally by their parents, In fact, emotionally mature parents raise emotionally mature children. An individual faces failures, disappointments and heartaches in his/her life and after a successful struggle within these experiences; he/she gains emotional maturity. Intelligence quotient is not the sole constituent of emotional maturity, some people are born with low IQ levels but they can flourish in life as mature and well-adjusted individuals.

Emotional maturity is considered as a vital construct for leading a happy and satisfied life. Emotionally immature people are more prone to lead life as a sorrowful affair. A comprehensive view of the characteristics of the emotionally mature people propounded by Kaplan and Brown (1986) is that they resist if there is a delay in the satisfaction of even their basic needs. They believe in long term planning, follow the societal norms and stick to the demands of the situation. It is not necessary that an emotionally mature child has the potential to handle the anxiety and hostility producing situations rather there is a continuous effort to recognize them in a clear perspective, a continuous involvement for achieving a sound combination of feeling, thinking and action.

It is a well known fact that emotional maturity is closely related to the concept of emotional intelligence, which recognizes the advantages of being proficient at handling and recognizing their own and others’ feelings. Emotionally mature people consider themselves responsible in their own feelings and do not blame others for causing them. They recognize that their thoughts and reactions are independent of others’ intrusion. Self-control is considered as a hallmark of emotional maturity especially during the period of stress, adversity and perceived failure. Emotionally mature individuals handle the situations in an effective manner. Emotionally mature person is characterized by having full control over the expression of his/her feelings.

They carry out activities in accordance with the accepted social values and ideals and remain indifferent towards emotional enticement. With the growth and development of maturity, an individual’s emotional stability and depth of social adjustment, professional and vocational aptitude, ambitions of life are likely to grow and develop.

A mature person feels no need of any assistance in matters like understanding a situation and realizing his/her duties and responsibilities. This maturity, in a true sense reflects the fruits of finer qualities of self-control, politeness, sympathy, cooperation, tolerance, and emotional stability.