When you are 25 years old, you are still 18 years old

bymassimo ankor

Today 's boys and girls understood from the survey of San Diego State University and Brinmer College that there is less tendency to do "adult activities" such as sexual activity and drinking alcohol compared with the previous generations. In the past studies, there was a conclusion that "contemporary boys and girls are moral", but this research suggests that "rather than moral, rather than moral, adults' activities are promoted There is a possibility that it is not just not going ".

The Decline in Adult Activities Among U. S. Adolescents, 1976-2016 - Twenge - 2017 - Child Development - Wiley Online Library
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cdev.12930/abstract

Extended Adolescence: When 25 Is the New 18 - Scientific American
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/extended-adolescence-when-25-is-the-new-181/

In the research, we analyzed the results of seven nationwide surveys conducted in the US from 1976 to 2016. Taken together, these subjects range to 8 million boys and girls aged 13 to 19 who belong to various racial / economic environments / religions. In the survey, subjects received various questions such as "How much time do you spend outside school?"

As a result of the analysis, the researchers found that in addition to the decreased tendency of boys and girls to sexual behavior and drinking, the percentage of boys and girls driving a car from around 2000, the proportion of by-products and dating after school It is said that the proportion of doing it decreases. In 1991, 54% of high school students answered that they had experience of sexual activity at least once, while in 2015 this proportion has decreased to 41%. The result of being on a downward trend was not affected by race, gender, or residence.

byMatthieu Joannon

Jean Twenge, who led the survey, said, "I question the reason why the girl's pregnancy rate is decreasing," and "Boys and girls are supposed to do moral actions" The children's workers do not work so they are lazy. "However, our findings show that recent boys and girls have become moral It is not that he did not become lazy, but he said that the tendency to do "adult activities" decreased. " Twenge adds that the 18 year old as of 2017 seems to be the past 15 years old.

Heejung Park who studied with Mr. Twenge initially thought that this result shows that "Today's boys and girls are working on their homework and extracurricular activities". However, in fact, the amount and frequency of homework and extracurricular activities have changed little in recent years.

The researchers believe that the cause of the fact that boys and girls do not act as adults may be related to the spread of computers and smartphones. The possibility that social activities and sexual interests are done by exchanging texts and seeing online pornography has been shown, but as the decreasing trend started before Internet usage became commonplace, It is also suggested that not everything can be explained on the Internet.

byDavid Clow

On the other hand, boys and girls with large families and small incomes are also known to have a high tendency to participate in adult activities. This means that children in an environment that is poor and difficult to predict in the future will develop more rapidly than children who are rich in resources and in a stable environmentLife historyTheory ". Conversely, in families where children can predict that they can afford to go to school and become a career before becoming an adult, a temporary grace will be borne by the child. While economic disparities expand in the United States, the average household economic margin has increased more than the past few decades, and the average life expectancy has also increased. As a result, researchers speculate that the time it takes for people to get married and hold children is long. Also, the fact that the number of children per household is decreasing is also believed to contribute to the increase of resources poured per child.

The idea of ​​'extension of youth' has not started today. Development psychologistEric H. ErikssonHas positioned this stage in life as a "psychological moratorium" (grace period). On the other hand, however, many of today's child psychologists believe that the grace period of modern children is as long as any generation in the past. Mirjana Domakonda, a psychologist at Columbia University, seems to be keenly aware of the prolongation of adolescence when people who graduate from college are doing dissatisfactions such as boys and girls say. "The 25-year-old is 18 years old, the delay of youth is no longer a theory, it is a reality, and in a society where swipe is regarded as dating and nice is regarded as conversation, in a sense, I am in a "psychological moratorium", says Domakonda.

byNik MacMillan

However, there are experts who point out that questioning many subjects is likely to produce statistical errors, and that we should pay attention to the treatment of this research result. Robert Findling, professor of child psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, said, "Studies based on impressions, opinions, experiences, etc. will derive false conclusions."

On the other hand, if we assume that the results of this research are correct to some extent, what does the delay in adolescence bring to society? It can be thought that there are an increasing number of children who are helpless and unwilling to work hard, but it seems that there is nothing wrong with an inexperienced period increasing for several years in an era with a longer life expectancy than ever before. Mr. Twenge thinks that this phenomenon has both good and bad aspects, "Although it is a good thing to protect children in their early teens, children in the late teens go to college or work Parents should realize that experience and independence are needed before. "

Domakonda also considers part of the cause of the adolescence extension to parents. Instead of trying to forcibly promote the growth of children, we acknowledge the shift of culture and say that we should find a growth method that meets modern needs. At the same time, he says he should stop recognizing that he is 18 years old as an adult, and that he should recognize that the way people grow is different. Even though 75% of the major mental illnesses have developed since mid-20s, researchers ceased to classify as age-specific categories for research and what they needed for people in the process of growth By learning, it is possible to establish a preventive method and treatment plan for mental illness.