This will give a lot of people a new excuse as to why they haven’t matured yet.
The term “grow up” is about to have a brand new meaning.
Why? Because people don’t become fully “adult” until they’re in their 30s, according to a new report by brain scientists in the UK, that’s why.
In Ireland, as is the case elsewhere, people technically become an adult at 18, but this report suggests that our brains are not fully matured for a number of years after that.
New studies claim that the human brain is wired and reshaped throughout much of a person’s life, and that it isn’t fully formed until an older age than is often believed.
The research suggests people aged 18 are still going through changes in the brain which can affect behaviour and make them more likely to develop mental health disorders.
Speaking about the findings, professor Peter Jones, from Cambridge University, told the BBC: “What we’re really saying is that to have a definition of when you move from childhood to adulthood looks increasingly absurd.
“It’s a much more nuanced transition that takes place over three decades.”
He added: “I guess systems like the education system, the health system and the legal system make it convenient for themselves by having definitions.”
Professor Jones says he also believes experienced criminal judges should recognise the difference between a 19-year-old defendant and a “hardened criminal” in their late 30s.
“I think the system is adapting to what’s hiding in plain sight, that people don’t like (the idea of) a caterpillar turning into a butterfly,” he added.
“There isn’t a childhood and then an adulthood. People are on a pathway, they’re on a trajectory.”
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