Is 25 the new cut-off point for adulthood?

According to this BBC story young people should still be considered children until they reach the age of 25. This seems a bit disingenuous to me. If young folks cannot make decisions on their own after 18 we just move the goal post to 25?

While it may be true that 18 - 25 year old people don't always make the best decisions for themselves I fail to see how they are going to learn and mature on their own if "grown-ups" keep insulating them from reality.

Is 25 the new cut-off point for adulthood?

New guidance for psychologists will acknowledge that 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.

Even with the question whether 18 or 25 is the end of adolescence I smell a rat. This has all the hallmarks of a segment of the medical community making a grab for more patients they can treat.

Which do you think it is, 25 year olds are still children or a expansion of patients for doctors. Both maybe? This feels just like the DSM V expansion of mental illnesses to me, the doctors want more patients.

Our ancient forefathers are spinning in their grave.
There was a time when adulthood came once you hit puberty, then you were meant to go forth and do things as adults do, be it fight wars, get a job, marry, have kids, etc.

People at any age desire some help, be it emotional, physical, financial, etc...suggesting a young adult is still a kid because they are leaning on others...hell, a 60 year old person could possibly fall in that category if its broad enough

reply to post by Bassago


Well now, that's odd..... President Obama was just telling us all a number of months ago that the Morning After pill should be perfectly acceptable to give to girls of any reproductive age, as they are capable of making their own decisions on major life changing medical calls. Abortion itself (For consent laws), for that matter, was also fought tooth and nail on the same basis. Kids shouldn't need Momma's permission. Kids aren't kids these days, it was said. They know enough and are mature enough..again..to make those life changing decisions at the youngest ages applicable.

now, when it's convenient in a different way, they suddenly aren't mature at 12yrs old after all, but are just kids until 25?

Hey, I'm getting real real tired of people setting these 'definitions' just to be changed willy nilly as something isn't convenient anymore ...only to be changed back with a vengeance when another reason makes it handy again.

*Physical brain chemistry puts adulthood pretty close to what is recognized now, I believe.

What's funny is that the Children are physically maturing at an earlier age.

I always thought that the brain kept developing into the 25yr age range. Maybe they're taking that into account.

But, 18+ is an adult, by U.S. standards. You're going to have +/- variables, naturally.

I hear older folks call people into their early 30's "kid(s)"

Wrabbit2000
reply to post by Bassago

 

Well now, that's odd..... President Obama

And gonna stop you right there.
This is a BBC article, aka, Brits.
Stop having Barackattacks whenever anything anywhere pops up.

Rome fell? But Obama...

Anyhow, the article suggests that on the 18th birthday, people don't magically transform from a simpleton child to a adult. I guess the only thing that needs to be said is duh...everyone is different, some people are responsible and clear headed at 15-16, some not until they hit damn near 30.

reply to post by SaturnFX

Saturn..... I'm sorry if merely mentioning the name as a side reference and 100% casual note of comparison to how age has recently played a major role in Western news stories hits ya. I'm sorry you're so sensitive to the name even being mentioned that it brings that response.

I'd have used another example....equally general, generic and open to making the point ...but it's too late now and I can only say no offense was meant ..politically or otherwise. Nothing negative was even said or implied. Not about him. Not even in passing. It was strictly the way age had been used. Nothing more. Nothing less.

In fact, it was and still is highly relevant to use because broad, sweeping and general statements about age and maturity were made on threads relating to my two examples, on ATS, and by folks who likely find this one interesting as well.

Relax... Life is far too short to get worked up so easily over nothing.

I think Saturn has the right take on this...

I guess the only thing that needs to be said is duh...everyone is different, some people are responsible and clear headed at 15-16, some not until they hit damn near 30.

however, I'd like to add, this is part and parcel of a society that wants to shield their children from reality, instead of teaching them reality. I'm not talking about one extreme to the other. I'm talking balance. I'm talking about giving your children the means to mature at a reasonable age, instead of keeping them in reality kindegarten until they're in their teens.

SaturnFX

everyone is different, some people are responsible and clear headed at 15-16, some not until they hit damn near 30.

I agree with that being pretty much self evident. So this seems to be an obvious attempt at patient expansion by the doctors and lobbyists. They received new "guidelines" expanding childhood to 25 but from the article I can't find out who was pushing for this new guideline.

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.

Just wondering who was really pushing this agenda.

"So you have this kind of cultural shift which basically means that adolescence extends into your late twenties and that can hamper you in all kinds of ways, and I think what psychology does is it inadvertently reinforces that kind of passivity and powerlessness and immaturity and normalises that."

Cultural shift, that's probably true. The everyone wins, everyone's great attitude has now impacted an entire generation of the young. Guess we get what we deserve but I feel sorry for the kids.

The more people try to shelter their kids from the real world, and real life, the more useless they become as adults it seems.... Once they hit the real world, it's such a huge culture shock. I seen it a lot even in my generation, the ones that were over protected had a really hard time adjusting, if they ever did. A few ended up trying to off themselves.

Klassified

however, I'd like to add, this is part and parcel of a society that wants to shield their children from reality, instead of teaching them reality.

The same society that parades eight year old girls around as sexual objects.

It isnt so much the absurd sheltering that gets me. It's the horrible inconsistencies in that sheltering.

Can't let Johnny point his finger and go "bang" but we can let him watch six hours of TV a day, eat frozen dinners six nights a week and take his sister, plaster her with make-up, put her in fishnets because looking like a whore in your single digit ages is somehow "cute" then post pics of her on our Facebook page.

But if Johnny makes an L shape out of anything he's getting expelled. Zero tolerance for that stuff.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


That is one aspect I never got, the legal aspect that is. Someone can be tried as an adult as a 12 year old..... Makes no sense to me whatsoever. There is really no consistancy at all. It seems to just depend on a prosecutor's mood, or if they are up for re election.

reply to post by TKDRL


Mood and politics.

The gun control lobby like to lump gang members in their 20's into the "children firearm related deaths" category all day long.

That same group drops the children qualifier in an instant when it comes to beatings or stabbings. Then it's "18 year old male" and "young man."

Wordplay to hit the right emotional string. A 16-25 year old male is everything from a child to a young man to an adult male depending on the reaction you want to evoke.

I don't think adulthood is an age but an attitude. You can have really experienced 16 year olds that have run a home for years because the parents were unable for whatever reason. Or those with a lot of bad experiences, or those with a lot of good guidance.

On the other hand you can get people that never really grow up at all, regardless of age. These are the people that cause others to have to grow up quickly.

I think 30 for an adult.

People dont really take FULL care of their lives till they realize they need to make some preps for being over 50 and i think that hits around 30

EDIT: its strange this thread appeared today, I had a strikingly similar thought just yesterday. Since our life expectancy has shot up so fast our 'phases' in life have been stretched out making each phase last longer and start sooner.

My thoughts are:
The economy is no where near as good as is being reported. Too many people graduating from college today are unable to find full time jobs with health benefits (the fact that the many graduate with degrees that are a waste of money because the degree in an unemployable field is another story) . Young people were the biggest supporters of Obama. They are not getting the utopia they were promised. So as a partial appeasement they can stay on parents health care until age 25. By then the Health Care Act will work and everyone will have cheap health insurance. Which we know of course won't happen.

reply to post by Biigs


The 20s are the new teens!

More money, less responsibility.

It used to be that Middle Age was when you were 40

Now it's 50, pushing on 60

As we live longer and longer I guess only fair adolescence gets extented too?

Personally I'd say 30. But then, I'm a crochety old 47 year old .....

thisguyrighthere
Can't let Johnny point his finger and go "bang"...

Well duh... how can I make a profit from that?

thisguyrighthere
but we can let him watch six hours of TV a day, eat frozen dinners six nights a week and take his sister, plaster her with make-up, put her in fishnets because looking like a whore in your single digit ages is somehow "cute" then post pics of her on our Facebook page.

Now we're talking. Look at all those markets and cross markets!

Edit: As to he OP... it is indeed pretty clear we're being conditioned and "bred" to become more and more juvenile and dependent. Much like what we did to certain canine breeds.

reply to post by Bassago


This has been proven to be the case physiologically as well as psychologically.

I don't remember where I read that some years ago, but it was from a reputable source and if one wants to find it one will.

I will try to find the source.

reply to post by Bassago


It's just a recognition of fact that the growth process does not magically end around age 18, but instead continues until our late 20's.

It is a recognition that the old ideas of certain birthdays signifying adulthood and thus being ready and able to adopt adult rights and responsibilities, is certainly a flawed perspective going by what is observed in the world around us in this time.

There will be young people who are more mature and able to be balanced and effective adults in society than the majority of their own peers.