Adult (person)

An adult is a person regarded as having reached maturity, typically after adolescence. Legal systems and societies define adulthood differently for particular rights and responsibilities.

Connect

Adolescence: The developmental period between childhood and adulthood, involving physical, cognitive, and social change. It is the life stage that adulthood generally follows.
Childhood: The period of human life before adulthood, commonly marked by dependency and continuing development. It is the life stage adulthood succeeds and is often defined against.
Voting age: The minimum age at which a person may vote in a given jurisdiction. Voting eligibility is often tied to legal adulthood, though exceptions exist.
Coming of age: The transition from childhood toward adulthood, marked by personal, social, or ritual recognition. It expresses adulthood as a recognized transition, not only a biological change.
Puberty: The process through which a child’s body develops reproductive capability and secondary sex characteristics. Its physical changes contribute to maturity but do not by themselves establish adulthood.
Minor (law): A person who has not reached the age of majority under the applicable law. Legal adulthood most commonly contrasts with this status.
Age of consent: The age at which a person can legally consent to sexual activity under a jurisdiction’s law. This legal threshold can differ from the general age of majority.
Coming-of-age ritual: A ceremony or practice marking a person’s transition from childhood into a new social status. Such rites make adult status visible within particular communities.
Maturity: A state of development marked by advanced physical, emotional, or social capacities. It is the broad idea behind treating someone as an adult.
Emerging adulthood: A proposed developmental stage from the late teens through the twenties, marked by transition toward adult roles. It describes a prolonged transition rather than a clear arrival at adulthood.