In psychology and pedagogy, not everything is so simple and definite. Scientists have different opinions about the borderline where childhood turns into adulthood. It is impossible to define a clear line, a clear age. Most researchers set the age of acquisition of the main features of adulthood - 17-20 years.
In everyday thinking, everything is more prosaic.
The famous cliche: plant a tree, build a house, and raise a child, shows the practical side of the issue. In this light, an adult should have his capital, as well as be ready to raise children. That is, the age, in this case, will certainly be more than 20 years.
It seems to me that an adult is qualitatively different from a child in terms of a set of parameters. Firstly: his personality is formed, which means he has goals in life and plans. Secondly: he is independent since the right to work allows him to gain financial independence.
But, this is clear to everyone, an adult has no fewer responsibilities than rights, while a child's responsibilities are limited to obeying parents and going to school. Adults, with high independence and responsibility for their actions, bear full responsibility. Especially parents.
In the works of psychologists, it is noted that if a child's leading activity is play, then for an adult it is work. I also believe that the ability and ability to work (rather than lazily rest) is an important trait of an adult. After all, financial independence comes from both a careful attitude to money, and the ability to save, the ability to plan your finances, and therefore your acquisitions. In children, I often notice a consumer attitude towards money that they have not earned. They do not think about the reasons for the wealth of their parents, the main thing for them is that pocket money always appears on time. In this regard, children from disadvantaged families often grow up earlier because of the banal need to survive. They are often not capable of the behavior accepted in society, that is, socialization is difficult for them.
I also noticed from my friends that higher education significantly slows down growing up. At 23, some of my acquaintances had already got married, had children, while others had just graduated from university at that time and still lived in their parents' house, fully subsisting on the money of their mothers and fathers.
At the same time, it is hard to deny that higher education helps to expand the range of opportunities, gives a chance for a promising career.
If we proceed from my feelings, then I hear about the real awareness of independence and adulthood only from people who are 25-28 years old.
It also depends on the country. In France, where, as in all of Europe, loans accompany people throughout their lives, there is no phenomenon of young people sitting in their parents' homes. As soon as you start studying, you rent a room and start an independent life, full of loans, taxes, and constant running around. But you study calmly, few people in France work during their student years. But after graduating from the university, they are all rapidly trying to get a job at least somewhere, since they have to pay off the loan.
I have also heard about such a feature of the psychology of some adults as infantilism. It would seem that a person can already earn money (and not small), get married, but softness or capriciousness, uncertainty, and the inability to take responsibility for their actions - all this shows the lack of formation of such a person. And without responsibility, it is impossible to work, let alone start a family.
