ABSTRACT
In this chapter we introduce a way of understanding behavioral autonomy development during adolescence that we call governance transfer. We argue for moving beyond defining autonomy as behavioral freedom or independence because such definitions fail to account for societal constraints around individual actions. Measures of behavioral autonomy emerging from autonomy defined as behavioral freedom or independence include behaviors that are harmful to self and others, and therefore reveal a lack of maturity on the part of the adolescent. In addition, equating autonomy with independence fails to account for the role that parents play. To conceptualize governance transfer, we draw from multiple disciplines and Smetana’s work on social domains to describe how societies limit individual action, defining domains of action that involve no harm to anyone (personal actions), harm only to self (prudential actions), and harm to others (conventional and moral actions). As adults and societal agents, parents understand (and define) the constraints, using their regulatory authority—governance—to guide and protect adolescents from harming themselves or others. Through transactional processes, parents and adolescents transfer governance when adolescents understand the constraints and are ready to regulate themselves in accordance with societal expectations. From our perspective, then, genuine behavioral autonomy is achieved when individuals understand the constraints and abide by the constraints or negotiate for their change.
