As we know relatively little about the development of wisdom in youth, the following study was designed to examine whether and how wise functioning would predict coping strategies in adolescents. As layperson’s implicit theories of wisdom suggest that wisdom varies by age, we wanted to see if and how age might correlate with wisdom, and examine the role of age as a mediator between wisdom and coping. Consequently, this article provides some initial evidence indicating that wise thinking, behaving, and age are related to coping strategies. It seems that wise individuals act when confronted with adversity and obstacles, focusing on the benefits that follow from stressful events. At the same time, they try to avoid using responses that are commonly considered less adaptive or immature: denial or substance use. These choices may be related to the equilibrium between knowledge and doubt that is believed to be the core of wisdom. Therefore, being wise lies not in what is known, but rather in the way in which the knowledge is used in everyday life and experienced as time passes by.
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