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Are We Grown Up Yet? Study Says Not 'Till 26


CHICAGO (Reuters) - Most Americans believe someone isn't grown up until age 26, probably with a completed education, a full-time job, a family to support and financial independence, a survey said on Thursday.



But they also believe that becoming an official grown-up is a process that takes five years from about the age of 20, concluded the report from the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center.


The findings were based on a representative sample of 1,398 people over age 18 surveyed in person in 2002. It had an error margin of plus or minus 3 percent.


The poll found the following ages at which people expect the transitions to grown-up status to be completed: Age 20.9 self-supporting; 21.1 no longer living with parents; 21.2 full-time job; 22.3 education complete; 24.5 being able to support a family financially; 25.7 married; and 26.2 having a child.


'There is a large degree of consensus across social groups on the relative importance of the seven transitions,' said Tom Smith, director of the survey. 'The only notable pattern of differences is on views about supporting a family, having a child and getting married.


'Older adults and the widowed and married rate these as more important than younger adults and the never-married do,' he added. 'This probably reflects in large part a shift in values across generations away from traditional family values.'


The most valued step toward reaching adulthood, the survey found, was completing an education, followed by full-time employment, supporting a family, financial independence, living independently of parents, marriage and parenthood.

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