What does it take to confidently call yourself an adult
when a person becomes an adult ? And when does he stop being a child?
The question "Have I already grown up?" sooner or later everyone asks themselves without exception. The first time we give a positive answer is at the age of 14, but usually we quickly realize that we were mistaken. The second attempt is about 18, then at 23. At 25, we condescendingly look back and say "well, now I'm definitely big," and a year and a half later we laugh once again at our former confidence.
The category of adulthood has so far been one of the most conventional and difficult to differentiate. Recently, sociologists from the British company Skipton proposed another way to determine the age of X: they came up with 50 criteria that will help determine whether a person has already grown up or is still somewhere between an independent adult and an infantile teenager. Scientists were based on surveys and observations of two thousand people – all of them told sociologists about their lives and named key events that, in their opinion, marked the transition to an absolutely adult state. After that, sociologists recorded their habits and lifestyle and compiled a consolidated list of actions that give out an adult in a person. In addition, all participants in the study named several factors that theoretically should be inherent in maturity.
The list is impressive, but if you understand, the secret of adulthood turns out to be quite simple, almost primitive. A kind of "three in one": sanity, financial literacy and the ability to think about the meaning of life.
By themselves, these qualities are not surprising, but the criteria that confirm the presence of these very qualities in a person turned out to be funny. Take and give loans, go to bed before 11, invite guests for lunch, follow the doctor's recommendations, save money for retirement, write a will ... My friend would say it's old age. Because melancholy and boredom. And then there's the boredom. Try it on yourself. An adult woman, it turns out, chooses comfortable rather than beautiful shoes, never goes to bed without washing off her makeup, hates the mess in the house and likes to walk in parks. She also, judging by the survey, loves to cook, spends leisure time in flower beds and prefers to be given gift certificates rather than gifts for her birthday.
I don't seem to know a single adult woman at all! There is one friend who fits almost all parameters, but she does not know how to count money at all. And independence in the conduct of finances is one of the key skills of an adult, according to Skipton.
"The list of criteria that we have identified is very diverse. There are some very obvious events in life that make you grow up: marriage, children, buying real estate, the death of parents, "says Tracy Fletcher, head of PR at Skipton. "Something that leaves an imprint on a person and, of course, seriously changes his life due to objective circumstances." At the same time, the list includes the most common habits, the appearance of which cannot be explained by anything other than age, she says: "After all, it often happens that in our youth we do not like, for example, exhibitions, and then, at the age of 40, suddenly discover paintings for ourselves and become museum regulars. Or suddenly we stop exceeding the speed limit in the car or even start driving according to the rules. "
A few months ago, well-known Australian scientists Susan Sawyer and George Paton unveiled their theory of growing up: in their opinion, a person becomes an adult at exactly 24 years old. It is at this time that people begin to think about their health, sociologists say, based on the results of many years of research. At 24, they quit smoking, start drinking less, participate less in fights, are less likely to get into accidents on the roads and, finally, are much less likely to make attempts to commit suicide. Basically, that's the same sanity that the Skipton researchers are talking about. True, in their opinion, an adult most often becomes at 26.
And the Englishwoman Sarah-Jane Blakemore from University College London claims that a person grows up to 40 years. She is a neurosurgeon and studies the brain. Recently, she was able to prove that the prefrontal cortex, which is believed to be responsible for the moral and ethical aspects of human life, continues to change at the age of 40, and does not stop developing in the region of 20, as previously assumed. According to her, it is now clear that the midlife crisis is another period of growing up, after which everyone finally becomes serious and responsible.
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