At what age would you say a someone becomes an adult

[Availablemilkdotcom]

Just that really. I know 18 is the legal age but it seems that attitudes have shifted a lot in recent years with regards to what is age appropriate and when so I wondered what age in your opinion you become an adult and why?

Other people’s kids I’d say 21, mine I would say 25, because they are mine and I suppose it takes longer to see your own children as adults.

Although my 11 year old is already pretty independent and a lot more adult than myself sometimes!!

Legally obviously 18 but in terms of maturity and brain development 25. I don't consider 21/22 year olds fully adults. Yes in the sense that if they commit a crime they should be punished etc but I still look at them as very young people who aren't fully developed (obviously not the case for everyone, exception to the rules).

For me I was a nightmare from 12 - 25. I really felt a shift in my brain at 25 where I really started to knuckle down and get serious about my life after years of fucking up. My opinions drastically changed and I no longer 'knew everything', I became kinder and more focused and productive and motivated. My mum says she can't believe the change and I do honestly believe it was to do with my brain development, I felt a huge shift that I can't really describe. 27/28 I had a huge growth period where I really got to know myself, my likes, my dislikes etc and questioned a lot about life in general. But now over that hump and definitely consider myself and feel like an adult now.

So 18 legally - 25 mentally - for me at least

The dictionary says it’s when someone is fully grown or developed. So physically (height, puberty etc) that’s around 15 for most girls and 16 for most boys. Definitely unusual for growth after 18. Mentally / emotionally your brain keeps developing until about age 25. Personally I think that by 15/16 a teenager should be taking significant responsibility for themselves, by 18 be able to be independent day to day but ideally have support for big decisions until about 25. So I think 16-18 is when they become an adult but it’s still an ongoing maturity process for a few years after that.

For me it was 28 roughly when I started doing all the adult things. Before that I messed about.

I'd say 25, however for me personally it was 30. I am such a different person now compared to my teens and twenties.

When you have your own kids and the penny drops about your own parents parenting responsibilities

19/20- having two adult children myself.
Having said that my sister married at 16 ( against our parent's wishes )and emigrated at 17 so i guess she was an adult then.

According to several posters here, a single 50 year old woman who has spent her working life in low-paid, non-"career" jobs is still a child. Are low-paid workers this century's version of the old maid?

18 but it depends on the person. Some young people are very immature up until they're about 30😂 so very individual

Well I’m still waiting to become one and I’m 33, I still have the urge to find an adult if something has gone wrong.

I noticed a dramatic change in my sons around the age of 25. Obviously they were adults long before then, but at 25 there was a noticeable shift in a way that they interacted with the world.
As a disclaimer, they both left home at 18 and have travelled since Uni.
With my daughter it was much more of a gradual change from about 19

This is an interesting question, because things have changed enormously since I was a teenager back in the 1980s. In those days, most 16 & 17 year olds had left FT education and were working and earning money. They were mini-adults with a degree of financial independence from their parents.

These days, many 21 year olds have yet to attain that level of independence. Adulthood has been postponed by up to five years in many cases. I would say 22 is the start of independent adulthood, despite legal adulthood beginning at 18.

We do maturity assessment up until 25

Leaving care is until 25

Driving a hire car is 25

Yes being 18 is a legal adult, but in terms of mentally developed into an adult, it's 25.

25

Perhaps when they start understanding other peoples situations, perspectives, needs and factoring them into their decision making process so that they don't automatically put their own needs above anyone else's - so this could be any age from maybe 17-30 possibly - I have known young people with disabled siblings in one parent families who help a lot at home and they seem far more grown up, thoughtful and responsible than other people the same age in very different situations. Yet I know 30 year old guys who spend all their time and money on the latest consoles and on-line gaming who seem more like 12 year old kids to me - I wonder if they really have any idea how unappealing this makes them.

18

18

@AliMonkey can you link to some evidence for that? As that is not my observation.

18 year olds don't even qualify for proper minimum wage, so it seems a bit much to expect full independence on £6.45 an hour. Which is pretty grim for the many young adults who don't have support from family.

20 ish

In my experience, some people never become adult, even if they reach old age.

21 - as it used to be - most 21 year olds are not in education and will be working and contributing to society.

It also marks age of maturity over the childish teenage years. Brains fully formed etc.

@Availablemilkdotcom
I say when ur old enough to decide you wana leave school so 16 well I say 5th year here in Belfast. There right and good at saying stop treating me like a kid from a young age 🤔🤔🤔🤔

MN is oddly contradictory though, a thread about someone worrying that an 18 year old with no job and living at hone is trying for a baby and everyone will be shouting about her being an adult who can make her own decisions, and that her mum should keep her nose out.

Threads about 22 year olds being completely useless at home and contributing nothing financially or practically to the household and you hear screams of 'their brains don't mature until 25' and that they are still basically children....

I'm 41and I don't feel like one most days.55?