212. When Do You Become an Adult?

No Stupid Questions

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).