Life: The "New Adolescence" Ends at 24, Research says

-NY Post

We’re not really adults until reaching age 24, researchers have concluded.

That’s because so many young people are continuing their education for longer periods of time and delaying marriage and parenthood.

The definition for adolescence is currently between ages 10 and 19, which marks the beginning of puberty and the perceived end of biological growth.

But, writing in Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, scientists at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Australia argue the timing needs to be changed, London’s Telegraph newspaper reported.

Today, the average couple marries for the first time when the groom is 32.5 years old and the bride is 30.6. That’s eight years later than it was in the 1970s.

The study’s lead author, Prof. Susan Sawyer argued that policies that support youth should be extended beyond teenage years.

But others said that just because young people were unmarried or still in education did not mean they were not adults. Dr. Jan Macvarish of the University of Kent told the BBC: “There is nothing inevitably infantilising about spending your early 20s in higher education or experimenting in the world of work.