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Adaptation

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Encyclopedia of Adolescence
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Overview

Adaption typically refers to changing for better being able to live in a particular environment. The general belief is that adaptation involves successful transitions, one that enhances the probability of doing well in the new situation. The term typically has applied to evolutionary processes, such as the probability of an organism surviving and reproducing. But, it now applies to a variety of other situations involving how (and whether) individuals change to address the demands of different circumstances. In the study of adolescence, this means that the notion of adaptation figures prominently in many areas of research and serves as an important way to understand developmental changes.

Adaptation

Adaptation involves fitting or confirming to an environment. Adaptation generally implicates the assumption that it is advantageous; thus, “maladjustment” results from unsuccessful adaptation and “adjustment” results from successful adaption. Importantly, adaptation typically is...

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Correspondence to Roger J. R. Levesque .

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Levesque, R.J.R. (2018). Adaptation. In: Levesque, R.J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Adolescence. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33228-4_485

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