In psychology, a behavior or trait is adaptive when it helps an individual adjust and function well within their environment. A maladaptive is a behavior or trait that is not adaptive — it is counterproductive to the individual.
Maladaptivity is frequently used as an indicator of abnormality or mental dysfunction, since its assessment is relatively free from subjectivity. However, many behaviors considered moral can be apparently maladaptive, such as dissent or abstinence. In more common indicator of abnormality is medical — mental illness.
WASHINGTON - A pattern of maladaptive behaviors beginning with aggression in school age children can be halted to avoid future problems in adulthood, say researchers who study the relationship between childhood aggression and the likelihood of later unemployment.
The study was begun in 1968 and data was collected from the participants at ages 8, 14, 20, 27, 33 and 36.
The authors found that the children who were aggressive at age eight began a cycle of maladaptation that included school maladjustment, problem drinking, lack of occupational alternatives and finally long-term unemployment, said lead author Kokko.
Notwithstanding this difficulty, adaptation can be distinguished from maladaptation in that adaptive responses are characterized by a more flexible coping style, they are motivated more by the present and future than by the past, and they make use of secondary process thinking.
Although her effort was an attempt to master an earlier conflict, it was a maladaptive one: she continued to be involved in a destructive relationship where her needs were never met.
Maladaptive reenactments can also occur because a person seeks out and "chooses" a powerful, care taking (and sometimes abusive) figure to solidify a shaky self-concept and a fragile sense of self.
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