adult

Information about adult

This article is about the human developmental stage. For the adult insect stage, see Imago. For the band, see ADULT.


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The term adult has three distinct meanings:
  • Grown man or woman; mature person.
  • Plant or animal that has reached full growth.
  • One who is legally of age. Opposed to minor.
Adulthood can be defined in terms of biology, psychological adult development, law, personal character, or social status. These different aspects of adulthood are often inconsistent and contradictory. A person may be biologically an adult, and have adult behavioral characteristics but still be treated as a child if they are under the legal age of majority. Conversely one may legally be an adult but possess none of the maturity and responsibility that define adult character.

Coming of age is the event; passing a series of tests to demonstrate the child is prepared for adulthood; or reaching a specified age, sometimes in conjunction with demonstrating preparation. Most modern societies determine legal adulthood based on reaching a legally-specified age without requiring a demonstration of physical maturity or preparation for adulthood.

Although adult education simply means education for adults, not particularly sex education, "adult" also means "not considered suitable for children," in particular as a euphemism for being related to sexual behaviour.

Biological adulthood

Adulthood is generally understood as the time when physical maturation is complete. One reaches their maximum height and secondary sex characteristics form such as body hair and facial hair, voice lowers in pitch (especially noticeable in men), and menses begin (women). Natural sleep patterns change in adulthood, as adults typically require less sleep than during adolescence. One thing people don't specify is what (psychologically) an adult is. A common theory is that adulthood is the real test of life, to experience the world from a first-person standpoint instead of through the parents. Then the adult can pass those experiences down to younger people and they can experience them when they grow up.

Legal adulthood

Main article: Age of majority


Legally it means that one can engage in a contract. The same or a different minimum age may be applicable to, for example, parents losing parenting rights and duties regarding the person concerned, parents losing financial responsibility, marriage, voting, having a job, being a soldier, buying/possessing firearms (if legal at all), driving, traveling abroad, involvement with alcoholic beverages (if legal at all), smoking, sex, gambling (both lottery and casino) being a prostitute or a client of a prostitute (if legal at all), being a model or actor in pornography, etc. Admission of a young person to a place may be restricted because of danger for that person, and/or because of the risk that the young person causes damage (for example, at an exhibition of fragile items).

One can distinguish the legality of acts of a young person, and of enabling a young person to carry out that act, by selling, renting out, showing, permitting entrance, participating, etc. There may be distinction between commercially and socially enabling. Sometimes there is the requirement of supervision by a legal guardian, or just by an adult. Sometimes there is no requirement, but just a recommendation.

With regard to pornography one can distinguish:
  • being allowed inside an adult establishment
  • being allowed to purchase pornography
  • being allowed to possess pornography
  • another person being allowed to sell, rent out, or show the young person pornography, see disseminating pornography to a minor
  • being a model or actor in pornography: rules for the young person, and for other people, regarding production, possession, etc. (see child pornography)
With regard to films with violence, etc.:
  • another person being allowed to sell, rent out, or show the young person the film, a cinema being allowed to let the young person (under 18) enter
The legal definition of entering adulthood usually varies between ages 15–21, depending on the region in question. Some cultures in Africa define adult at age 13.

According to Jewish tradition, adulthood is reached at age 13 (the age of the Bar Mitzvah), for Jewish boys, for example, were expected to demonstrate preparation for adulthood by learning the Torah and other Jewish practices. The Christian Bible and Jewish scripture has no age requirement for adulthood or marrying, which includes engaging in sexual activity. According to The Disappearance of Childhood by Neil Postman, the Christian Church of the Middle Ages considered the age of accountability, when a person could be tried and even executed as an adult, to be age 7.

In most of the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and China, the legal adult age is 18, with some exceptions:
15: Iran (21)
16: Indonesia (20)
17: South Korea & British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Yukon Territory in Canada (19)
19: Japan (20)
20: Saudi Arabia (17)
21: Philippines (18)

Personal characteristics

There are some qualities that symbolize adultness in most cultures. Not always is there a concordance between the qualities and the physical age of the person.

The adult character comprises:
  • Self-control - restraint, emotional control.
  • Stability - stable personality, strength.
  • Independence - ability to self-regulate.
  • Seriousness - ability to deal with life in a serious manner.
  • Responsibility - accountability, commitment and reliability.
  • Method/Tact - ability to think ahead and plan for the future, patience.
  • Endurance - ability and willingness to cope with difficulties that present themselves.
  • Experience - breadth of mind, understanding.
  • Objectivity - perspective and realism.

Social status

Adults, as a class, especially middle-age adults, enjoy an elevated status in society. This so-called “Adult Privilege” works in the same way as “White Privilege” by conferring often unspoken advantages, exemptions or immunities to members of the class; it also takes the form of adultism, which is a predisposition towards adults, inherently biased against children, youth, and all young people who aren't addressed or viewed as adults. For example, while society fixates on the supposedly immoral and destructive behavior of youth, adults are not held accountable when they often display the same if not worse behavior in certain areas such as drug abuse,[1] obesity and crime.[2] Ironically the status we afford adults for their maturity includes the privilege to act immaturely.

With such apparent double standards, some social critics have defined adulthood as an “organization” or “institution” that believes “they should always have the right to command and be obeyed.”[3]

See also

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ [3]

External links

 •  • [ e]
Human development: biological - psychological
StagesInfancy • Childhood • Adolescence • Adulthood - Early adulthood • Middle adulthood • Late adulthood
DevelopmentChild development • Youth development • Ageing & Senescence
Theorists-theoriesJohn Bowlby-attachment • Jean Piaget-cognitive • Lawrence Kohlberg-moral • Sigmund Freud-psychosexual • Erik Erikson-psychosocial
In biology, the imago is the last stage of development of an insect, after the last ecdysis of an incomplete metamorphosis, or after emergence from the pupae where the metamorphosis is complete.
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Biology (from Greek: βίος, bio, "life"; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge"), also referred to as the biological sciences, is the scientific study of life.
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Adult Development is a branch of Developmental Psychology. One simple breakdown of the field is to look at its three dimensions. Dimension 1: Change: Loss, Stasis, Positive Adult Development Dimension 2: Types of Change: Maturation, Learning, Developmental stage, and Periods
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LAW may refer to:
  • Lightweight Anti-tank Weapon, like the M72 LAW (US Army) and the LAW 80 (British Army)
  • Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights (also known as LAW)
  • League of American Bicyclists, formerly known as the League of American Wheelmen

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Coming of age is a young person's transition from adolescence to adulthood. The age at which this transition takes place varies in society, as does the nature of the transition.
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Adult education is the practice of teaching and educating adults. This is often done in the workplace or through 'extension' or 'continuing education' courses at secondary schools, or at a college or university.
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Sex education is an aspect of modern Western secondary education. It may also refer to:
  • Sex Education (book), a young adult novel by Jenny Davis on the American Library Association's list of Top 100 banned books


Sex education
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child (plural: children) is primarily a boy or girl who has not reached puberty.[1][2] However, some youth reach puberty earlier or later than expected.
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This article is about sexual practices (i.e., physical sex). Broader aspects of sexual behaviour such as social and psychological sexual issues are covered in related articles such as human sexuality, heterosexuality, and homosexuality.

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Secondary sex characteristics are traits that distinguish the two sexes of a species, but that are not directly part of the reproductive system. Some have argued that in general they evolved to give an individual an advantage over its rivals in courtship.
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Body hair, or more precisely androgenic hair, is a common term for the terminal hair on the human body developing during and after puberty in contrast to the head hair and the less visible vellus hair.
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Facial hair is a secondary sex characteristic in human males. Many men develop facial hair in the later years of puberty, approximately between 15-18 years old.
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human voice consists of sound made by a human using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming etc. The vocal folds, in combination with the lips, the tongue, the lower jaw, and the palate, are capable of producing highly intricate arrays of sound.
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The menstrual cycle is a recurring cycle of physiologic changes that occurs in the females of several mammals, including human beings and other apes.[1] Humans are the only species that has a menstrual cycle with concealed ovulation.
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Adolescence is a transitional stage of human development that occurs between childhood and adulthood. Adolescent humans go through puberty, the process of sexual maturation.
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The age of majority is the threshold of adulthood as it is conceptualized in law. It is the chronological moment when children legally assume majority control over their persons and their actions and decisions, thereby terminating the legal control and legal responsibilities of
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Contract Law
Part of the common law series
Contract
Contract formation
Offer and acceptance  · Mailbox rule
Mirror image rule  · Invitation to treat
Firm offer  · Consideration
Defenses against formation
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Voting is a method of decision making wherein a group such as a meeting or an electorate attempts to gauge its opinion—usually as a final step following discussions or debates.

Voting is used in two different ways.
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Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as: "A person in the service of another under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, where the employer has
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solid gold coin brought in after a reform of the Roman money system. The common origin for the words soldier and payment survives not only in French (soldat and solde) but also in other languages, like German (Soldat and Sold
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firearm is a device that can be used as a weapon that fires either single or multiple projectiles propelled at high velocity by the gases produced through rapid, confined burning of a propellant. This process of rapid burning is technically known as deflagration.
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Driving is the controlled operation of a land vehicle, usually a motor vehicle such as a truck, boat, or car. Although direct operation of a bicycle, a mounted animal (not including chariot operation) or a motorcycle (at least in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada) is
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An alcoholic beverage (also known as booze in slang term) is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol, although in chemistry the definition of alcohol includes many other compounds.
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Tobacco smoking is the act of burning the dried or cured leaves of the tobacco plant and inhaling the smoke for pleasure, for ritualistic or social purposes, self-medication, or simply to satisfy physical dependence.
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Sex refers to the male and female duality of biology and reproduction. Unlike organisms that only have the ability to reproduce asexually, sexed male and female pairs have the ability to produce offspring through meiosis and fertilization.
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gambling has had many different meanings depending on the cultural and historical context in which it is used. Currently, in Western societies, it has an economic definition, referring to "wagering money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the
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lottery is a popular form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize. Some governments outlaw it, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments.
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casino is a facility that accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are often placed near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships and other vacation attractions.
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