The Consequences of Extended Adolescence

My 16-year-old son asked, "Why doesn't the school zone extend all of the way to the high school?" I answered, "Because the school zone rule applies to elementary, middle or junior high schools." When he asked, "Why not?"  I replied in jest, "Once you reach high school I guess you're old enough to die."  We laughed.

The rule to end school zones after junior high  is somewhat arbitrary.  Apparently high schoolers are responsible enough to not require a reduced speed limit to be safe.  This is just one situation that illustrates how becoming recognized as an adult is highly variable. This is because the change from a child to an adult is not one moment but a process.  We call that process adolescence.  Childhood ends and adolescence begins at the onset of puberty.

What is less clear is when does the adolescent become an adult?  Driving ages begin as young as 14 and range up to 18.  Voting rights and drinking ages range from 16 to 21.  Voting rights also extend from 16 to 21 depending upon where you live.  So legally speaking, becoming an adult really is also a process rather than a moment.

I suspect every parent and child experiences those moments where the adolescent wants to be treated as an adult but the parent observes an immaturity that warrants greater restriction rather than expanded freedom.  The child can enumerate any number of reasons why they should be treated as an adult because in many instances they have achieved adult levels of responsibility and freedom.  But it really doesn't come at once, even at age 21.

Today, puberty can begin before age ten and we have adolescence extend into the late 20s or early 30s.  Adolescence used to be a period of a few years, puberty at 12-14 and marriage at 16-20.  Now we are talking about a decade and possibly two.  This extended adolescence results from an absence of milestones or adult markers among a growing percentage of our population.  In our world we have legal adults who are not only unemployed but have never had full-time employment.  We have legal adults who  parent children but are still living in their parents home because the cannot afford the costs of living.

At the same time much of humanity, especially westernized societies, struggles with the definitions of morality, as revealed by tensions between individual and group rights. But setting to the side the argument over morality there may be an economic chance to improve general morality within our society.

We need to provide an economic structure where younger people can earn a living wage move out, purchase their own home and support their own family. This will reduce the years of adolescence, the years people can physically have children but collectively we say they should not.  Are economic realities the lone cause or solution? No.  But we can more easily expect responsible behavior when the choice to behave responsibly is more universally accessible.