Emotional immaturity can be the result of insecure attachments during early life experiences, trauma, untreated addiction or mental health problems, and/or lack of deeper introspection or work on oneself. It can manifest as self-centeredness, narcissism, and poor management of conflict.
Immature personality disorder (IPD) was a type of personality disorder diagnosis. It is characterized by lack of emotional development, low tolerance of stress and anxiety, inability to accept personal responsibility, and reliance on age-inappropriate defense mechanisms.
Immature people only appear to care about themselves. They dislike compromise and don't want to take other people's ideas into account. They always want to have their own way.
Can Emotionally Immature People Change Over Time? Without a doubt, the answer to this question is yes. They can. But it's important to remember that just because he CAN doesn't mean he WILL.
An emotionally immature person can display behavior that is disrespectful towards others and makes the environment toxic. However, there are ways to improve your emotional intelligence if you are willing to put in the effort. This will improve not only your relationships with others but also your mental health.
Immaturity takes many forms — always deflecting blame, picking fights, or passive aggressiveness, for example — and it can often have real, interpersonal consequences, and can even ruin your relationships with friends, family, and partners.
Be on the lookout for these key signs of immaturity: An inability to communicate kindly, honestly, and effectively. An unwillingness to take personal responsibility (e.g., a refusal to make heartfelt apologies). A lack of emotional regulation, such as being hot-tempered or prone to tantrums.
Red flags in a relationship include excessive jealousy and frequent lying. You should also be wary of a partner who frequently criticizes you or puts you down. Another major red flag is an unwillingness to compromise — relationships shouldn't be one-sided.
Origin of immature
First recorded in 1540–50, immature is from the Latin word immātūrus unripe, hence, untimely. See im-2, mature.
Narcissism is an extreme form of emotional immaturity. It exists on a spectrum. The narcissistic label is often applied to run-of-the-mill emotional immaturity.
You'll feel this way because an emotionally immature person does not have the capacity internally to be there for your feelings. They lack the ability to have empathy for how you are feeling, so they will dismiss, criticize, or analyze your feelings rather than acknowledge and validate your emotions.
When trauma impairs your ability to develop full emotional maturity, this is known as arrested psychological development. Trauma can “freeze” your emotional response at the age you experienced it. When you feel or act emotionally younger than your actual age, this is known as age regression.
There is no significant difference in emotional maturity among ADHD and normal children.
Some conditions may play a role in a lack of empathy such as narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), antisocial personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder (BPD).
Someone's psychological or emotional age is often evident in emotional reactions and habits. Signs of emotional childishness include emotional escalations, blaming, lies, and name-calling. Someone who is emotionally childish may also have poor impulse control, need to be the center of attention, or engage in bullying.
According to Thomaes & Brummelman, the development of narcissism begins at around the ages of 7 or 8. This is the time when children begin to evaluate themselves according to how they perceive others. Although narcissism comes partly down to genes, it is also impacted by the environment.
The Root Cause
More often than not, emotional immaturity arises because of either: An inability to communicate with others, which leaves them feeling misunderstood. A lack of self-control, and an inability to control their emotions.
Emotional immaturity is a person's inability to express or cope with emotions that are serious in nature. People who are emotionally immature may also overreact to situations or have trouble controlling their emotions.
And 15 common traits of grown-up people.
Studies say men reach emotional maturity around 43, while 32 years of age is where most women mature.
He's not afraid to show his feelings
A mature man is not afraid to show his feelings. He won't just cry, get angry, or be upset. He would open up to you and explain why he feels this way. He wants you to be able to understand what's happening and do something about it.