Age involves the measure of time spent on earth as it relates to day and night and, by extension, the use of a calendar. Age is progressive and comes with attributes, expectations, or milestones. For example, at the age of one, a child is expected to begin to walk without support, and some allowances may be excused if he or she delays or attains the expected milestone. Age confers a lot of expectations, and contrary to what some people say, 'age is just a number'. For different age brackets, there are corresponding expected milestones, and putting eighteen as a mark of adulthood means that the individual should be able to meet those expectations. A man once told me that responsibility means the ability to respond.
Maturity involves a mental preparedness to attend to certain tasks, such that the individual handles those tasks often with the admiration or approval of watchful observers. Maturity means the individual handles situations in a manner that people approve of or applaud. On occasion, we are expected to react violently, but acting otherwise, especially calmly, may be evaluated as a form of maturity. Maturity also comes over a period of time, perhaps from innate human characteristics. Some individuals are naturally calm and reserved, and oftentimes, they are more mature in handling troubling situations as they are likely to observe more before reacting. On the other hand, some individuals have an outspoken nature and may speak before thinking. This may result in acts of immaturity.
Maturity is expected to come with age and is expected to be a result of experience. There is a popular saying that 'a fool at forty is a fool forever'. This does not mean it is at the age of forty before one crosses to maturity. In fact, there is no actual age of transition to maturity. For the aforementioned phrase, it is believed that an individual should have attained maturity before the age of forty, and anything contrary to that makes the individual a 'fool'.
Yet, we have heard the phrase that 'age is just a number'. This is where people disregard the value of age as a number with respect to an action or inaction. The phrase can be true depending on the context used and can be false in other contexts.
Let's take some examples where some under-eighteen individuals have gotten married and made a mess of their unions by not being able to stay temperamental with each other. Yet, we have supposed adults that are well above eighteen, and for acclaimed 'irreconcilable differences' have equally made a mess of their unions or marriages. Anyway, age may not necessarily imply that an individual is mature or not. Maturity is likely to be a conglomerate of factors such as innate temperament, experiences, age, limitations, etc.
As mentioned earlier, there are factors that may have contributed to the unanimous decision of eighteen as the crossover age to adulthood. Let's take a look at the hormonal status of individuals. Boys and girls attained puberty within the age range of thirteen and sixteen a couple of years ago. However, recently, puberty is now between eight and nine for both genders. This is about ten years away from eighteen, which is the approved age for adulthood. Should such wait to be eighteen before being termed an adult?
Let's also consider young people who get jobs (professional or nonprofessional) even before they turn eighteen; should they be considered minors? Nigeria is a country that would likely make you age faster than usual because of terrible and unfavorable economic challenges, yet reducing the life span because of extra stress undergone during the productive years of the individual.
Both indices are related, however, and should not be used in isolation as the sole determinant of maturity.
Thank you for reading. I would love to have your comments and contributions.