Are adults merely children writ large?

Do people ever truly 'grow up' intellectually and emotionally?

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Last updated 4-4-07

There's mounting scientific evidence that none of us ever gets physically older than roughly sixteen years of age. For all our body cells are replaced in various cycles, some perhaps as short as every seven years, some as long as sixteen, and all others in-between those spans.

Of course, the cell replacement process begins going out of whack not long after we reach our maximum physical height, reordering our appearance and capabilities into ever more imperfect copies of their predecessors. Our brains, however, may often be the least affected by these ever worsening duplication efforts. Ergo, we basically become sixteen year olds trapped in a steadily deteriorating body for the next sixty-odd years.

So is it any wonder we often act so childishly? So impulsively? Virtually always submit to peer pressures? Feel so often frustrated, and constrained? Fall into mad, mad love, against all reason, and sometimes even against all laws? Take awful, many times unjustifiable, risks? And remain so easily addicted to things like tobacco, alcohol, and gambling, throughout our entire lives?

-- Methusula's end

Below are some intriguing references regarding findings about those we today call "adults", and those we label "children". The similarities between the two age groups in many respects are sometimes striking-- and even frightening.

-- Adults Suffer Image Problems Much Like Teens By Jeanna Bryner; 06 February 2007; livescience.com

-- Women of All Sizes Feel Badly about their Bodies after Seeing Models; Mar 26 2007; Contact: Jennifer Faddis Sr. Information Specialist 573-882-6217 faddisj@missouri.edu

"...science has discovered that human viciousness actually peaks in toddlers. Luckily, two-year-olds can't do much harm. But if you don't help the worst cases by then, you might never be able to help them at all"

-- The Most Violent People on Earth by Erin Anderssen and Anne McIlroy; April 3, 2004 - The Globe & Mail, Page F1; evalu8.org

"The part of the brain that regulates reasoning, impulse control and judgment is still under construction during puberty and doesn't shift into autopilot until about age 25."

-- 50 Things We Know Now (That We Didn't Know This Time Last Year) 2006 Edition By JEFF HOUCK; The Tampa Tribune; Dec 26, 2006; tbo.com

-- Brain undergoes gains and losses in cognitive abilities during adolescence; eurekalert.org; 14-Apr-2002; Contact: Cheryl Alementi calementi@aan.com 651-695-2737 American Academy of Neurology

"boys can remain boys indefinitely"

-- Why Are There So Many Single Americans? By KATE ZERNIKE; January 21, 2007; nytimes.com

-- The War On Toddlerism Treating children as young as four as sexual deviants, criminals and subversives emphasizes slip towards the police state by Steve Watson; December 21, 2006; jonesreport.com

-- When love goes wrong -- a bizarre mission Strong feelings of passion, jealousy can give even most rational astronaut a blind spot of craziness, experts say by C.W.Nevius; February 7, 2007; sfgate.com

-- The perils of going solo Social rejection has a host of behavioral consequences, none of them good. BY ETIENNE BENSON; Volume 33, No. 10 November 2002; apa.org

-- [ALERT: PDF]Social Exclusion Causes Self-Defeating Behavior [ALERT: PDF]; Jean M. Twenge, Kathleen R. Catanese, and Roy F. Baumeister; Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2002, Vol. 83, No. 3, 606–615; psy.fsu.edu

-- Rejection massively reduces IQ by Emma Young; 15 March 02; NewScientist.com

-- Disconnect connection Study finds social isolation can lead to Alzheimer's-like symptoms By Kathleen Louden; February 13 2007; sun-sentinel.com

Want to multiply by six times the likelihood a student will perform a criminal act? Expel them from school.

-- Expelled students turn to crime: report (a study performed by the University of Tasmania); 24 Jun 2003; Australian Broadcasting Corporation

-- Lonely People Face Higher Risk Of Heart Disease; Center For The Advancement Of Health; May 24, 2002; sciencedaily.com

-- Friends And Hormones Interact to Decrease Stress By Carrie Wingate; Yahoo!/Reuters Health; March 26, 2001

-- Feeling Like a Burden Ups Suicide Risk for Some By Charnicia E. Huggins; Yahoo! News/Reuters Health; September 20, 2002; citing Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology

-- PSYCHOLOGICAL, PHYSICAL ABUSE EQUALLY HARMFUL TO HEALTH; Contact Jacqueline Preston at (713) 500-3033. American Journal of Preventive Medicine: Contact the editorial office at (619) 594-7344. Center for the Advancement of Health Contact: Ira R. Allen Director of Public Affairs 202.387.2829 press@cfah.org; Oct. 24, 2002; hbns.org

-- Youth who experience discrimination carry higher stress burden; EurekAlert; 17-Sep-2002; Contact: Pamela Ippoliti; Ippoliti@uic.edu; 312-996-2139; Center for the Advancement of Health

-- SEGREGATED NEIGHBORHOODS LEAD TO POOR HEALTH By Becky Ham; Dec. 20, 2002; hbns.org

"...a relationship between suicide rates and the level of social integration..."

-- Social Capital and Health, Nutrition and Population; worldbank.org; October 10, 2002

"She's daddy's little girl, there to take a vow of chastity."

-- No sex please, we're daddy's little girls - Yahoo! News by Jocelyne Zablit; Mar 22, 2007; Agence France Presse; news.yahoo.com

-- Childhood female masturbation; Susan J. Bradley; Can Med Assoc J. 1985 May 15; 132(10): 1165–1166.

-- Israel recalls 'naked ambassador'; 12 March 2007; news.bbc.co.uk

-- The quality of a father-child relationship affects intimate relationships in adulthood; eurekalert.org; 19-Feb-2007; Contact: Amir Gilat, Ph.D. agilat@univ.haifa.ac.il 972-482-40092 University of Haifa

-- Tiny Attractors: Boy Meets Girl Kids and their elaborate rituals for setting and policing gender boundaries. By John Ruddy; psychologytoday.com; Jan/Feb 2007

-- Study links early friendships with high-quality sibling relationships; eurekalert.org; 26-Jan-2006; Contact: Phyllis Picklesimer, Agricultural Communications p-pickle@uiuc.edu 217-244-2827 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

-- SMOKING, DRINKING AT SCHOOL MAY BE CONTAGIOUS FOR TEENSBy Becky Ham; Feb. 24, 2003; hbns.org

-- Teen survey reveals dangerous behavior during holidays; eurekalert.org; 18-Dec-2002; Contact: Jennifer Choi jennifer.choi@med.nyu.edu New York University Medical Center and School of Medicine

-- Northwestern study refutes 'sturm und drang' theory of adolescence; eurekalert.org; 2-Dec-2002; Contact: Elizabeth Crown e-crown@northwestern.edu 312-503-8928 Northwestern University

-- Teen angst rooted in busy brain; eurekalert.org; 16-Oct-2002; Contact: Claire Bowles claire.bowles@rbi.co.uk 44-207-331-2751 New Scientist

-- Teens who witness or experience violence at home take risks with sex Contact: Kristen Cole; brown.edu; October 16, 2002

-- New UNC study: Teens with regular religious practices get into less trouble; eurekalert.org; 18-Sep-2002; Contact: David Williamson 919-962-8596 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

-- Religious 'vulnerable to compulsion'; 30 May, 2002; news.bbc.co.uk

-- Lack Of Quality In Family Life Underlies Drug Problem [Contact: Mick Warwicker]; 13-May-2002; unisci.com

-- Adolescent development shaped by a host of social settings; eurekalert.org; 22-Aug-2002; Contact: Susan Griffith sbg4@po.cwru.edu 216-368-1004 Case Western Reserve University