212. When Do You Become an Adult?

Who decided that we’re fully mature at 18? Should 16-year-olds have the right to vote? And why are young people bringing their parents to job interviews?

 

SOURCES:Jeffrey Arnett, senior research scholar in psychology at Clark University.Julie Beck, staff writer at The Atlantic.Grace Icenogle, confinement prevention administrator in the Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families.Allyson Mackey, professor of neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania.Trevor Noah, comedian, writer, and late-night television host.Heejung Park, professor of psychology at Bryn Mawr College.Lawrence Steinberg, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Temple University.Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University.

 

RESOURCES:"1 in 4 Gen Zers Brought a Parent to a Job Interview," (ResumeTemplates.com, 2024)."Puberty Starts Earlier Than It Used To. No One Knows Why," by Azeen Ghorayshi (The New York Times, 2022)."Early Life Stress Is Associated With Earlier Emergence of Permanent Molars," by Cassidy L. McDermott, Katherine Hilton, Anne T. Park, Allyson P. Mackey, et al. (PNAS, 2021)."When Are You Really an Adult?" by Maria Cramer (The New York Times, 2020)."The Decline in Adult Activities Among U.S. Adolescents, 1976-2016," by Jean M. Twenge and Heejung Park (Child Development, 2019)."Using Developmental Science to Distinguish Adolescents and Adults Under the Law," by Laurence Steinberg and Grace Icenogle (Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 2019).Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noah (2016)."When Are You Really an Adult?" by Julie Beck (The Atlantic, 2016)."Adulthood in Law and Culture," by Vivian E. Hamilton (William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository, 2016)."Emerging Adulthood. A Theory of Development From the Late Teens Through the Twenties," by Jeffrey Arnett (American Psychologist, 2000).

 

EXTRA:"Do 'Generations' Mean Anything?" by No Stupid Questions (2023).