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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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jmf1234

I'm still a kid? Where's my allowance?

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Angel

I know people well into their 40's who have completed all of the above "requirements" and still need to grow up! And some 20 year olds who are far more grown up than average.

I believe maturity is a state of mind.

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BoCo

I'm nearly 27, and I still don't feel completely grown up. I say give it 'til you're 30.

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Glory's Sun

I'd have to agree with Angel on this one. It's a state of mind. I know young kids who act more mature than some adults..

gibber71

Growing up. No one told me about growing up. Isn't that what everyone else is supposed to do?

ICER

I'm hitting 39 in September. And I have most of those fullfilled. But I hope to god, never to grow up. You lose to much for the sake of adulthood. I have already giving the world far to much of me. in order to make things better for my family. I hope to hang on to the child in me. To keep the abilty to laugh and smile for no reason, to look at things in total wonderment, Just to say "WOW, That is sooooo kewl, dude"

Grown-ups are missing so much of life, Take a hint from a kid, and go fly a kite. you'll be amazed what it will do for the soul.

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One is filled with tax evaders, blackmailers and threats to society.
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TaLoN

im never going to grow up. the more mature you are the more boring life becomes until you die.

sierra2774

I was forced to grow up a lot earlier than 26.

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krwlz

looks like i got a few years supposedly...im not so sure that is quite true for me, but you know how it is...

Bill O'Rights

I know that I am 40 and I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.

hrdwareguy

I'm 27 and I still haven't completed my education. Although the survey states what it thinks it takes to be grown up, I think everyone must be evaluated individually and on their own merits.

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warrrreagl

Read the signature.

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Pacifier

Only someone who grows up and remains a child is a human
Erich Kästner

I'm 27 am i stil dont want to grow up, I see no point in it

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"It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere. Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death
— Albert Einstein

Cynthetiq

I don't wanna grow up... I'm a Toys 'R' Us kid... they've got a million toys at Toys 'R' Us that I can play with...

eh.. grew up too fast...if I had done it to 26... wow.. that would have been like 9 extra years of coasting.

As far as a state of mind, yes it's true there are some old people who are not very mature and didn't really grow up.

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Mango

At 35 I have fulfilled all the requirements but am still not "grown up."

When I get old I'm gonna be an old man.