When should a person be considered an adult?

When asking my 12 year old daughter, the age of magic will be 13 years old - you are officially a teenager and can not be considered an age of "child" anymore. When you ask my 15 year old prostitute, my age will be 16 years old, then she can drive to school. According to the US government, the child officially becomes an adult at the age of 18. At that time she was able to vote and start paying taxes. But what is interesting is that even if an 18-year-old child can participate in the war, the government does not think he is mature enough to drink alcohol well. The magical era of this ceremony is 21 years old. Still, even a child who can participate in war to buy beer is not enough to borrow a car; for most rental car companies, the minimum age for rent is 25 years.

It turned out that Hertz and Alamo people may be more familiar with the maturing age than the US government. According to the latest research, the human brain has not fully developed until about 25 years old. In the field of impulsive control and adventure, these are very important in recent years.

When studying adolescent brain scanning, neuroscientists learned that the prefrontal cortex was only half developed when the child was about 18 years old. This is the area in the brain that helps control impulses, solve problems, and coordinate mood and organizational behavior. This does not mean that children in their teens to early twenties can not undertake these tasks, but it means that it is difficult to do until at least 25 years of age where the brain area is fully developed.

This is not news for the generation of parents watching teenagers being at risk of crazy. For the average teenager who grew up with a supportive family (I mean emotionally and economically as well), the latest findings are not a big deal. Mom and Dad will continue to save their college students if they get into confusion.

However, this information provides a new perspective for treatment of children who are not receiving adequate support. In the foster care system, once a child reaches 18, the child is regarded as an adult and can not receive support from the state. Many think that this is premature for teenagers, especially teenagers who have experienced an unstable childhood.

Therefore, among supporters of foster parents, I think that it is more meaningful to be 25 years old to become a new legal age for adults. They hope that the maturing era is based on science, not any number.

I am not convinced that this concept will fly even my 12 year old and even my niece. But then, when they are in trouble with their teens, my family will (to hopefully) go to pick them up and let them stand up again.

Legal drinking age must be reduced to 18 years old. At the age of 18, the person is legally considered an adult and should be able to drink alcohol. By lowering the age of drinking, an 18-year-old child can not only acquire adequate rights and awareness for adults, but also invalid legislation just to create more effective tapes. At the age of 18, American citizens can vote for the elections, protect their country, and perhaps die, and make decisions about their lives and bodies. If I want to vote for the Democratic Party, I can do so. If I want ink of my body, I can. If I want to fill my stomach with smoke, I can do the same. However, trying wine with some friends is overly overkill to some extent. There is no reason for an 18-year old adult to be deprived of the right to participate in alcohol. At the age of 18, I believe that young people are big enough to make their own decisions about alcohol.

When will a person become an adult? There are many ways to answer this question. In the United States you are legally considered an 18 year old adult. However, other definitions in adulthood vary widely; for example, in sociology, when a person becomes independent, chooses a career, marries, starts a family, it is sometimes considered an adult. The age at which we achieve these milestones changes from person to person, from culture to culture. For example, in the country of Malawi in Africa, 15-year-old Njemile got married at the age of 14 and bore her first child at the age of 15. In her culture she is regarded as an adult. Malawi children are responsible for adults, such as marriage or early work until 10 years of age (eg, carrying water, raising babies, creating a workplace). In contrast, independence of Western culture becomes increasingly long, effectively delaying the lives of adults.