{"id":8600,"date":"2025-11-26T13:20:51","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T14:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/?p=8600"},"modified":"2025-11-26T21:33:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T21:33:29","slug":"the-unexpected-age-you-become-an-adult-now-and-9-signs-to-prove-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/curiousdrive.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/26\/the-unexpected-age-you-become-an-adult-now-and-9-signs-to-prove-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The unexpected age you \u2018become an adult\u2019 now \u2014 and 9 signs to prove it\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Are you officially an adult? (Picture: Getty\/Metro)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At 31, there are moments in life that make me feel like I’ve got my s**t together and others that leave me screaming, crying and proclaiming, ‘I’m just a baby’.<\/p>\n

According to a new study<\/a>, the latter might actually be true, as the official age at which you ‘become an adult’ has been revealed – and it seems I’m not quite there yet. <\/p>\n

Neuroscientists<\/a> at the University of Cambridge<\/a> have claimed that on average, adolescence (the period during which you develop from a child<\/a> into an adult<\/a>) actually lasts until the age of 32.<\/p>\n

So if you’re approaching the big 3-0 and still don’t feel like a fully-fledged adult, you might want to cut yourself some slack.<\/p>\n

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We’re all just big kids at heart and in our brains too, apparently… (Picture: Getty Images\/iStockphoto)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What happens to our brain in our 30s?<\/h2>\n

Cambridge\u2019s MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit compared the brains<\/a> of 3,802 people between zero and 90-years-old using MRI diffusion scans. From here they identified four pivotal \u2018turning points\u2019 between birth and death, when our brains \u2018reconfigure\u2019.<\/p>\n

The first turning point comes at the age of nine, when our childhood brain transitions into adolescence. This period ends at 32, when the brain\u2019s neural wiring shifts into \u2018adult mode\u2019.<\/p>\n

Dr Alexa Mousley, a Gates Cambridge Scholar who led the research, explains: \u2018Around the age of 32, we see the most directional changes in wiring and the largest overall shift in trajectory, compared to all the other turning points.<\/p>\n

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The team compared brain scans of 3,802 people aged between 0 and 90 (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018While puberty offers a clear start, the end of adolescence is much harder to pin down scientifically. Based purely on neural architecture, we found that adolescent-like changes in brain structure end around the early thirties.\u2019<\/p>\n

Throughout your 30s<\/a> and beyond, brain architecture \u2018stabilises\u2019 compared to previous phases with no major turning points for three more decades. During this time, regions of the brain slowly become more compartmentalised and there\u2019s also a \u2018plateau in intelligence and personality\u2019, which has been seen in other studies.<\/p>\n

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The study claimed 32 was the age you enter adulthood (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next turning point takes place at 66, which marks the start of \u2018early ageing\u2019 and then \u2018late ageing\u2019 begins at around 83-years-old. <\/p>\n

The (unofficial) signs you’ve officially become an adult<\/h2>\n

Whether you’re 32 or not, you’ve probably had a moment at one point or another that made you feel well and truly like an adult.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it was when you switched banks to get a free Apple<\/a> Watch, or the first time you had to call your GP to book your own doctors appointment.<\/p>\n

I asked my colleagues to share the moment they knew they had reached adulthood and the responses were interesting<\/em>…<\/p>\n

Here are Metro’s<\/strong> signs that you’re an adult now, regardless of your age…<\/p>\n