Discussion:
A good reason is that it is hard to say when teenage years end and adulthood begins (or perhaps that it is not due for another day). Was this always the case? In my personal opinion, the times have changed this "rite" of passage quite a bit. It use to be that children left home early on because the money was limited they had to set out on their own to get married and work. Getting married at 17 and 18 was not unusual and many had children by the age of 20. Very few had money or the option of college. Today, children are often still at home around the age of 24 even 25. Lifestyles of the parents allow for them to partake in the home environments income much longer leaving them less responsibility to forge on their own. The push to do so is less. So what can we say for the standard today? Is it still consider to be 18? Is it more like 26? Can we say or is it all a matter of personal/environmental factors?