Passage Of Individuals Into Adulthood Research Paper

From ancient civilizations to contemporary society, the passage of individuals into adulthood has played a major role in forming the societal hierarchy that is still prevalent today; furthermore, the basis on which an individual becomes an adult has primarily been based on their age. Age being the determining factor of adulthood influences domestic policies, such as the legal drinking age, enlistment age, and even what individuals may watch on the internet. Biological, psychological, and even religious factors also play a role in determining when someone gains the responsibilities of adulthood; however, with each of these factors, age is still the underlying variable in distinguishing adults from other groups of society. Adulthood, at least
Many religions celebrate the passage from adolescents into what they perceive as adulthood with ritualistic parties and practices. Bar Mitzvahs are a Jewish celebration of adulthood. Young girls celebrate becoming a woman at the age of twelve and young men at thirteen. Two main issues present themselves when religion becomes involved in dictating whether someone is an adult or not. First, in many religions, the age at which someone becomes an adult is a predetermined age. Despite the experiences, values, and responsibilities a young man or woman has had, they will reach an age and automatically be considered an adult. The practice should provoke the question of what defines an adult in the religions that practice age based ceremonial rites of passage into adulthood. Second, the practice of instilling the responsibilities of adulthood through religion into a young child can and has been reported to have consequences later in life. Children who later in life decide to leave the faith are often left with an overwhelming question of how to define not only their identity but their sense of adulthood too. Also, it can be overwhelming to a young child to be pressured into assuming the responsibilities and roles of an adult when their circumstances do not demand that they be an adult. Religion is a sensitive subject and while
It is an existentialist property that is formulated differently by everyone. The notion of maturity being possessed by only people of a certain age can easily be repudiated when considering how many children must assume the role of an adult because of the negligence of their older parents. There is no one defining characteristic of being an adult and it would be irresponsible of me to decide what being an adult means without considering the different circumstances and vast spectrum that people exist in. For example, the values of a pharmaceutical based chemist and those of an aboriginal medicine man will vary dramatically; however, this does not mean that either of these people cannot be considered adults. My notion of being an adult means to realize that it is in fact an existential property of life and that we have no control or right to decide what being an adult should mean for other people. Growing and developing as human beings is an inescapable aspect of life, and it is commonplace for people to decide at what point in another individual’s life they have reached the culmination of maturation known as adulthood. Age, science, pseudoscience, religion, and other people’s opinions all have importance when developing policies that govern what adults can and cannot do; however, to distinguish one’s self as an adult is an existentially based