Is 25 the new cut-off point for adulthood?

[Twoflower]

I just turned 25 and am just starting to feel like I might be able to survive on my own.

[Bella Fortuna]

I was already divorced for the first time when I was 25....

[Tyrannical]

There are some cognitive studies indicating that the brain doesn't fully mature until the late 20s.

[Audley Strange]

There are some cognitive studies indicating that the brain doesn't fully mature until the late 20s.

So what's your excuse? You still 15 or just retarded?

[Hermit]

Adolescence now effectively runs up until the age of 25 for the purposes of treating young people. So is this the new cut-off point for adulthood?

"The idea that suddenly at 18 you're an adult just doesn't quite ring true," says child psychologist Laverne Antrobus, who works at London's Tavistock Clinic.

"My experience of young people is that they still need quite a considerable amount of support and help beyond that age."

Child psychologists are being given a new directive which is that the age range they work with is increasing from 0-18 to 0-25.

"We are becoming much more aware and appreciating development beyond [the age of 18] and I think it's a really good initiative," says Antrobus, who believes we often rush through childhood, wanting our youngsters to achieve key milestones very quickly.

The new guidance is to help ensure that when young people reach the age of 18 they do not fall through the gaps in the health and education system. The change follows developments in our understanding of emotional maturity, hormonal development and particularly brain activity.

"Neuroscience has made these massive advances where we now don't think that things just stop at a certain age, that actually there's evidence of brain development well into early twenties and that actually the time at which things stop is much later than we first thought," says Antrobus.

There are three stages of adolescence - early adolescence from 12-14 years, middle adolescence from 15-17 years and late adolescence from 18 years and over.

Neuroscience has shown that a young person's cognitive development continues into this later stage and that their emotional maturity, self-image and judgement will be affected until the prefrontal cortex of the brain has fully developed.

Alongside brain development, hormonal activity is also continuing well into the early twenties says Antrobus.

"A number of children and young people I encounter between the age of 16 and 18, the flurry of hormonal activity in them is so great that to imagine that's going to settle down by the time they get to 18 really is a misconception," says Antrobus.

Continued (at length): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24173194

That seems to have been recognised in Germany for quite some years. Child-support payments need to be made until the offspring is 30.

[Twoflower]

I was already divorced for the first time when I was 25....

My parents had already been married for 3 years and had started their own business by the time they were 25. I try not to compare my life to theirs at my age but it can be depressing to realize how much they had accomplished at my age compared to how little I have done.

[Svartalf]

If you knew how little I have accomplished by age 45, you'd be proud of yourself. By age 25, I had already failed getting to my 2 dream careers and was well on my way to failing law school.

[klr]

I had already been lecturing for a couple of years when I was 25.

I was already divorced for the first time when I was 25....

My parents had already been married for 3 years and had started their own business by the time they were 25. I try not to compare my life to theirs at my age but it can be depressing to realize how much they had accomplished at my age compared to how little I have done.

Them marrying younger is mostly down to the different times they grew up in.

As to having starting a business: Only a certain proportion of people are ever going to do that. It's not for a lot of people. I don't count myself as inferior to anyone just because they run (or have run) their own business, and I haven't.

[Tyrannical]

There are some cognitive studies indicating that the brain doesn't fully mature until the late 20s.

So what's your excuse? You still 15 or just retarded?

I'm not the one demonstrating those characteristics you mentioned..........

[Twoflower]

I had already been lecturing for a couple of years when I was 25.

I was already divorced for the first time when I was 25....

My parents had already been married for 3 years and had started their own business by the time they were 25. I try not to compare my life to theirs at my age but it can be depressing to realize how much they had accomplished at my age compared to how little I have done.

Them marrying younger is mostly down to the different times they grew up in.

As to having starting a business: Only a certain proportion of people are ever going to do that. It's not for a lot of people. I don't count myself as inferior to anyone just because they run (or have run) their own business, and I haven't.

It's not the fact that they are business owners, it's more just the amount of stuff they did by the time they were my age is so different than what myself or most of my friends have done. I don't want to own a business because I've seen how stressful and difficult it is, but i would like to feel like I've accomplished a little more than I have.

[Ian]

Seems to me you're doing fine, Twofy. I didn't get a career squared away until I was 26. I got married at 28, and in retrospect I wish I took more time to settle down.

Maybe the OP is correct. Looking back, the 23-yr old me wasn't really an adult, even though he had a bachelors degree.

[Svartalf]

Maybe the OP is correct. Looking back, the 23-yr old me wasn't really an adult, even though he had a bachelors degree.

Same here... I was far from mature then, even though I was working on my MA.

[Bella Fortuna]

Seems to me you're doing fine, Twofy. I didn't get a career squared away until I was 26. I got married at 28, and in retrospect I wish I took more time to settle down.

Maybe the OP is correct. Looking back, the 23-yr old me wasn't really an adult, even though he had a bachelors degree.

Yeah, same here, in terms of not having things figured out even though I was living as an adult!

[klr]

I think there are certain things that bring maturity, and therefore adulthood. Education is not necessarily one of them. Responsibility ... now that will make you grow up pretty quickly.

[Ian]

I read this comic strip when I was about 18. I never ever forgot the last frame.