maladjustment

American  

[mal-uh-juhst-muhnt] / ˌmæl əˈdʒʌst mənt /

noun

1. bad or unsatisfactory adjustment.

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maladjustment British  

/ ˌmæləˈdʒʌstmənt /

noun

1. psychol a failure to meet the demands of society, such as coping with problems and social relationships: usually reflected in emotional instability

2. faulty or bad adjustment

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maladjustment Cultural  

1. Inability to react successfully and satisfactorily to the demands of one's environment. Though the term applies to a wide range of biological and social conditions, it often implies an individual's failure to meet social or cultural expectations. In psychology, the term generally refers to unsatisfactory behavior patterns that cause anxiety and require psychotherapy.

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Etymology

Origin of maladjustment

First recorded in 1825–35; mal- + adjustment

Example Sentences

To be clear: I am not suggesting that intelligence across the full range of scores is generally related to maladjustment.

From Scientific American

“I see. And that is where those trifling maladjustments come in which you mentioned awhile ago—steel, hydroponics and so on.”

From Literature

A Western observer might shrink in horror from this practice, imagining long-lasting emotional maladjustments from early trauma.

From Washington Post

Researchers examined teenagers’ mobile phone use and their subsequent changes in wellbeing over four years of high school from 2010 to 2013, and found increasingly unencumbered access led to increases in psychosocial maladjustment.

From The Guardian

The question, now, is what to do if the period of “maladjustment” that lasts decades, or possibly a lifetime, as the latest evidence suggests.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• insanity
• mental disorder