[alexqgb]

Yes, and teenagers still operate under the illusion that "being a real grownup" is a actual thing, and not just the thinnest of veneers.

[javajosh]

This may be true at an emotional level, but there is a fairly unambiguous criteria for adulthood, which comes when you are able to sustain your life and perhaps the life of a family.

[rwallace]

Then again, by that criterion a 40-year-old who loses his job and can't find another one is suddenly not an adult anymore, which doesn't really seem to match what most people want the term to mean.