Are We Grown Up Yet?

[tonado]

In Chinese tradition, you are not grown up until you are married.

 

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

Thu May 8, 6:37 PM ET

 

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.

[AZwolfman]

WOW!! Just think how much better the entire world would have been if everyone had waited until they were (grown up) 26.2 years old to have a child!

[owenkrout]

This is a point where the Chinese seem to have gotten it right long before it dawned on Westerners. Actual observation and conversations that I have had with people here reveal a general attitude in China that a person is not an adult until about 27 or 28 years old. College students are definately not considered as adults here. They are treated more like Americans treat high school students and even refere to themselves as "boys and girls".

[tonado]

If you are single (age doesn't matter), you can collect lucky money from Chinese New Year. Until you are married, people don't treat you like an adult.