Teenagers Are Adults

(not sure this is an opinion. it’s biological fact. but peeps get VERY Angry when I write it)

So a 13 year old person is an adult? I can see how that opinion is unpopular because it’s just wrong.

Many 13 year olds are still pubescent. None are children. Nature turns children into adults. There is lots of individual variation.
What turns a kitten into an adult cat? Puberty. What turns a puppy into an adult dog? Puberty. What turns a child into an adult human? Puberty. This is not difficult.

That’s not how any of this works.

That’s exactly how all of this works. It is in fact #BasicBiology

You can do all the #ScienceDenial you like. Won’t change the facts.

Whenever people like you go this “its just biology/science!” route they always conveniently forget that the animals you’re comparing us to aren’t sapient and don’t require the time for mental development that humans do. a sixth month old dog might be physically and mentally an adult but human psychological development doesn’t end until about 23-25, our level of intelligence requires a longer incubation time.

You pretend biology is on your side by ignoring psychology entirely.

re: “human psychological development doesn’t end until about 23-25”

This is an urban myth. It has been thoroughly debunked.

re: “our level of intelligence requires a longer incubation time”

Your example was dogs. They reach adulthood in around 1 year. We take longer, yes, about 14 years.

It has been thoroughly debunked.

It has not. Greetings, a psychologist.

“Brains fully developed at 25” is an urban myth. It has been thoroughly debunked.

Slate did an excellent summary of the debunking:

slate.com/…/brain-development-25-year-old-mature-…

#Neurology #Junk #JunkScience #Science #TeensAreAdults #RespectYoungAdults #biology #teens #teenagers #infantilization #ageist #bigotry

Care for some actual science? You’re making some extraordinary statements with very simplistic claims relating a interdisciplinary, highly complex field of research. There is not one single point in development when maturity is reached, there are different, simultaneous processes involving different aspects of development and maturity.

Searching for Signatures of Brain Maturity: What Are We Searching For?

(…) For the current discussion, the key point is that there is no single progression that encompasses functional maturation. Neural activity intensifies and reduces, varies quantitatively and qualitatively, in linear and nonlinear ways that are both linked to—and independent of—behavioral differences across development. Each of these patterns reflects developmental progress, but the wide range of ‘‘journeys’’ prohibits a simple definition of what emerging brain functional maturity looks like. (…)

Cognitive and affective development in adolescence

(…) As reviewed in the accompanying article by Paus [5] there is growing evidence that maturational brain processes are continuing well through adolescence. Even relatively simple structural measures, such as the ratio of whiteto-gray matter in the brain, demonstrate large-scale changes into the late teen-age years [6–8]. The impact of this continued maturation on emotional, intellectual and behavioral development has yet to be thoroughly studied, but there is considerable evidence that the second decade of life is a period of great activity with respect to changes in brain structure and function, especially in regions and systems associated with response inhibition, the calibration of risk and reward, and emotion regulation. Contrary to earlier beliefs about brain maturation in adolescence, this activity is not limited to the early adolescent period, nor is it invariably linked to processes of pubertal maturation (Figure 1). (…)

Behavioral and Neural Pathways Supporting the Development of Prosocial and Risk-Taking Behavior Across Adolescence

(…) Consistent with prior work showing that risk-taking behavior increases and peaks during adolescence (Gullone et al., 2000; Steinberg, 2007), we found that rebelliousness similarly increases from early adolescence to late adolescence before declining into adulthood. Research on the development of prosocial behavior however is mixed (for an overview, see Do et al., 2017). We observed a quadratic effect of age on a broad measure of prosocial behavior, peaking in mid-to-late adolescence, suggesting that, like rebelliousness, prosocial development follows a nonlinear age pattern that converges during late adolescence, although future studies should test if different age patterns are observed for different domains within prosocial behavior (such as helping and donating behavior). Our findings converge on the hypothesis that the development of rebellious and prosocial tendencies peak during late adolescence relative to earlier or later ages (Do et al., 2017), thus highlighting late adolescence as both a window of vulnerability and opportunity (…)

and teenagers drive the same cars as all other adults on the same roads as all other adults to the same jobs as all other adults where they do the same work as all other adults and get the same wages as all other adults and pay the same taxes as all other adults

for all of human history we have known that teenagers are adults

advanced research into neural pathways changes nothing. they are still just as capable of doing all the things they’ve been doing for thousands of years regardless of what some morons claim about their white matter or prefrontal cortexes.

the brain is by far the least understood organ in the human body, and lots of clickbait bullshit pseudo-science has convinced people that everyone under 25 is a retard. it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that teens would be just fine, if we only treated them with basic respect and gave them a chance.

history is replete with examples of that happening. the current level of infantilization of young adults aged 14-24 in the USA is completely unprecedented. it’s a huge experiment, and as their rates of depression, self-harm, and suicide have skyrocketed it’s safe to say this path is disastrous, evil, or both.

Human brains are largest around age 13.

They never stop changing. But is “maturing” development or decay? or both?

We all know that teens are adults and that their brains work fine. People are just desperate to justify aiming hateful bigotry at them.

Well, and if you’re not trying to imply that we are at peak cognitive ability at the age of 13 (and I at least hope you don’t believe that) this should be hint number one for you that the way you think maturity works is probably wrong.

It also shows me that you didn’t even read the short excerpts I provided for you. Here, again:

Searching for Signatures of Brain Maturity: What Are We Searching For?

(…) For the current discussion, the key point is that there is no single progression that encompasses functional maturation. Neural activity intensifies and reduces, varies quantitatively and qualitatively, in linear and nonlinear ways that are both linked to—and independent of—behavioral differences across development. Each of these patterns reflects developmental progress, but the wide range of ‘‘journeys’’ prohibits a simple definition of what emerging brain functional maturity looks like. (…)

Or another quote from that paper:

(…( Measures of widespread brain connectivity shift in complex ways from childhood to adulthood, characterized by reductions in local connections and rises in distributed connections. These connectivity-based shifts are thought to reflect a brain that is becoming more efficient in its in-network communication and more integrated in its cross-network communication (…)

Since you seem confident in your grasp of the topic I guess those two should answer your question.

You chose to ignore all of the obvious signs of adulthood. Instead you want to cherry-pick a few insignificant changes in the brain and say “these are the only things that matter for maturity”

Sorry. That’s just very stupid.

It would be equally valid to claim that pubic hair, or menstruation, or any other adult trait is the only one that matters.

You think that there’s a difference between 26 year olds and 16 year olds. Well, yes, there is. But many 26 year olds can pass for 16 and vice versa. Because they are both adults. 16 year olds cannot pass for 6 year olds or vice versa. 6 year olds are children.

After puberty humans are adults. This is not difficult. Desperately searching for neuological data so you can claim 17 year olds are children is dumb. Stop doing it. Nobody benefits from you supporting bigotry. Stop it.

It would be equally valid to claim that pubic hair, or menstruation, or any other adult trait is the only one that matters.

This is exactly what you’re proposing by claiming that the Tanner Scale is the only determinant. Like really, exactly this. It’s beautiful how you’re debunking yourself.