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The Fear Growing Up is Growing Worse
Young adults yearn for childhood, with “maturity fears” stronger among millennials than previous generations
Among a handful of snapshot memories from early childhood is one I recall from around age 5 when, while crying, I told my mom I didn’t want to grow up.
Such sentiments are common, even into college years. As people become young adults, the phenomenon gets a scientific name, “maturity fears,” to describe “the fear of growing up and desire to return to the safety of childhood.”
New research finds that more recent generations of US college students have higher levels of maturity fears than previous generations. But in both recent and previous generations, those fears shrink (on average) as the young adults continue aging.
“Our findings suggest that fears about growing older are not necessarily fixed; they appear to decrease for many people as they gain experience navigating adult roles and responsibilities,” says study author April Smith, PhD, of Auburn University. “At the same time, more recent generations of college students consistently reported higher maturity fears, which suggests that broader societal factors like economic uncertainty, social pressures and concerns about the future may be shaping how young people view…
