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Do you often wonder at what age your teenager will become a reasonable and responsible adult? Look no further: we have the answer!
First purchase, first child, first serious relationship… When do we truly become adults? A study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience seems to have found the answer.
The brain continues to mature until age 30
In France and many other countries, adulthood – that is, the age of civil and electoral majority – has been set at 18. At this time, young people are generally seen as mature enough to assume civic responsibilities – such as voting, getting married and being tried as an adult in the event of a crime. However, do we really become reasonable and responsible at this precise age? Not really.
Neural architecture continues to develop well beyond adolescence, into the early 30s, says Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, a neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge and author of the study.
“The idea that the brain is fully developed by age 18 is not true. The brain is not a uniform piece of tissue: it is made up of different regions, each developing at a different rate. […] Different people’s brains mature at different ages”.
The study highlights, in this regard, that it is necessary to take into account “individual differences in development“, to truly decide on a defined maturity. Maturity itself influenced by three key factors: the socioeconomic status, culture and social environment of the young “adult”.
A long individual maturation, which Professor Peter Jones confirms, at the microphone of the BBC.
“There is no childhood and then immediately adulthood. People follow a path, a trajectory,” he analyzes. Sticking to a single definition of when we move fromchildhood in adulthood seems more and more absurd.” This is a “a much more nuanced transition that spans more than three decades.”
Feeling good in your body, feeling good in your head!
At what age do you feel like an adult?
For psychologist and behaviorist Jeffrey Arnett, who has conducted numerous studies on this subject, the answer follows the previous logic: the majority of adults begin to feel truly adult between the ages of 18 and 29, with a more marked tendency towards the end of this age range, reports the magazine. Slate.
Which means that individuals’ emotional capacities – and their self-perceptions – continue to be refined well beyond the legal age.
This transitional period, dubbed “emerging adulthood,” is characterized by identity exploration and varied life experiences (during which young people explore multiple aspects of themselves) that contribute to progressive emotional maturation.
Attention parents of teenagers: all you have to do now is… wait!
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