Exploring Of What The "Real" Adulthood Is
In the USA, our society typically views adulthood as a person at the legal age of 18 assuming they will take responsibility for their actions, vote, handle money and finances, self govern and wisely make their own decisions. Adulthood is a character point reached by someone who is of legal age, but how do you know a person is an adult if they’re under the legal age or they don’t act like an adult? There are many aspects to consider when analyzing someone who has reached adulthood such as physical development, mental development, and emotional development. I believe adulthood is reached when one primarily demonstrates maturity, wisdom from experience, always looking at the consequences of future actions, and above all, actually feeling ready to be an adult in a fast paced world.
Let’s begin by looking at the typical physical development spanning from children to adulthood. At age 7, the brain and nervous system makes a certain amount of neural connections. These connections causes the child to gradually seize from seeing the world through a magical kaleidoscope, to viewing the world with a more material way of thinking. By age 8 to 9, a child's brain is already almost adult sized. The frontal lobes, located at the front of the brain under the skull, is what matures the most during middle childhood. The lobes control: planning, reasoning, social judgement, and decision making. Puberty is what comes next, transitioning a child to an adolescent. They see the world through a concrete viewpoint, begin to think about the future, and formulate their own ideas.
What’s fascinating between the brain functions of an adult compared to a teenager, is that the teens process information and experiences through the amygdala. This part of the brain is where experience is processed through emotions, and the ‘fight’ or ‘flight’ response. Adults process information through the prefrontal cortex. Logic and rationality are held here, and responses to experience are processed through good judgment and a consideration of long-term effects. The major differences between these two ways of thinking is first, the rational and wise decion-making part of a teenagers brain is still developing, and second, teens are still in the process of learning what ‘good judgement’ means.
Society says that the cutoff age is 18, but in reality the adult brain doesn't fully develop until the mid late-20’s! So in reality, 18 years of age shouldn’t mean you're finally an adult when your brain hasn’t even stopped growing. "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. Most eighteen year olds show just as much childish immaturity as an adolescent does. Some young adults don’t even want to comprehend or apply the meaning of being an adult into their lives. Some would say this is neglecting their responsibility of one of the most important steps in growing up, maturity.
What about taking into consideration people with brain disabilities? Can we consider them adults even though they may act like a child or show signs of childish immaturity? An example is someone with down syndrome. They are legally an adult, but mentally the IQ of a child. Does this still mean they have the responsibilities and character of an adult? Down’s isn’t a disease or an illness, it’s a genetic disorder where there’s an extra chromosome that slows down brain and emotional development. A person with down syndrome ages very slowly mentally, but ages quickly physically. Adults with down syndrome have a childlike demeanor through actions revolving around emotional and character behavior. They need lots of love and patience to overcome the fluctuations in mood swings and understanding his/her needs. Societies view on adulthood is someone who is able to take responsibility for his/her own actions. With this in mind, does that mean down syndrome adults are able to fit into society's definition of an adult?
Childish tendencies are also exhibited in mannerisms of innocence in maturity. One of my dear friends, Alex, is 28 and has down syndrome. He is one of the most loveable, sweet, kind, and thoughtful person I have ever met. Everytime I see him, he gives me a big smile, looks down sheepishly and waddles with his arms straight out to give me a big warm hug, and then tells me he loves me before walking off again. He does this with everyone, but his mom says he truly means the it. He asks how my week has been, quietly nodding at everything I say. He’s always smiling and laughing, giving all the ladies affectionate hugs and all the men handshakes. Although Alex is 28, he contently lives in a group home with other adult-aged Down Syndrome with supervision.
Most people think that all people with Down Syndrome are permanently stuck at home and will never be able to live their own lives. This is incorrect, in fact there are quite a few Down Syndrome adults that live their own lives and have their own families. There are some Down’s adults that mature quicker than others though. Alex is very innocent maturity wise, in that he doesn’t realize some of his actions are inappropriate or childish. After church one morning, my younger brother walked into the mens bathroom but was met with a disconcerting surprise. He walked out a couple seconds later, and ran with wide eyes to my mother. Confused, he said, “Mother, you never gonna bewieve it!
Alwex was in da bafroom wit da door open!” My brother proceeded to tell her how Alex had been using the bathroom, and in his childlike innocence, had forgotten to close the door. My mother carefully explained to him, “Alex doesn’t understand what he’s doing sometimes honey.”The American Academy of Pediatrics states, “The term mental retardation is used when a child’s intelligence or abilities to adjust to his surroundings are significantly below average and affect the way he learns and develops new skills. The more severe the retardation, the more immature a child’s behavior will be for his age.” This applies to not only children with downs, but also adults. My mother later mentioned the story to Alex’s mom and she commented, “He does not understand the age that he’s at because his brain has been impeded in the process of Down Syndrome, it hasn't grown in social and physical ways.”
Physically, people with Down’s would be considered an adult over the age of 18 to 20, but they will always have a childlike immaturity that affects their choices and words. Mental development is very important when considering Down Syndrome in determining whether societies definition of an ‘adult’ is applicable. Maturity is a sure sign of adulthood, yet an adult with Down’s is essentially incapable of reaching that standard. Emotional intelligence cannot be a factor since they’re behavior childlike in their decisions, actions, and words. They will foremostly be considered a child mentally, but an adult physically. I’ve said maturity in character development is a major part of adulthood.
However, what about taking into consideration the emotional development in terms of maturity of an adult? I wanted to see for myself whether an IQ test or an EQ test would determine that. I went online and took both of the tests: for the IQ I tested on a range of 115 to 120, and for the EQ I tested as the same emotional level as a 42 year old. Now I’m only 16 years old, and emotionally, I’m 42 year old?! I thought that was very interesting in that where emotion and intelligence is concerned, I could be considered an adult. This is valid since typically the physical, mental, and legal age of a person are the deciding factors. I am the oldest of five kids, meaning I have a lot of responsibilities in the house besides school. Taking care of all the siblings and always trying to be a good example has matured me faster than most teens.
Although maturity is definitely an important factor in adulthood, that alone doesn’t decide whether why or not I personally want to be an adult. I’ve watched my dad work so hard through the years, his hair has begun to turn grey from the stress. My mother has one of the biggest responsibilities in the world, keeping the family working combatably together every day. Adulthood is hard, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not a fun learning experience either. I have a long way to go before I would call myself an adult. I’m not driving, I don’t have a job, I’m working on my time management, I’m not interested in getting married or having children right now, etc, all of these factors play into the meaning of being an adult.
Does a steady income, stable emotional and intelligence state, high maturity, at or above the legal age of 18, and responsibility for actions determine how mature you are? Adulthood is reached when one primarily demonstrates maturity, wisdom from experience, always looking at the consequences of future actions, and above all actually feeling ready to be an adult in a fast paced world. People with brain disabilities are brought into account in that legally they would be considered an adult, but in reality they will always have a ‘childlike’ and not ‘childish’ complex about the world.
