Young people continuing their education for longer, as well as delayed marriage and parenthood, has pushed back popular perceptions of when adulthood begins.

As a consequence, in industrialized countries such as the UK the average age for a girl's first menstruation has dropped by four years in the past 150 years.

When the body stops developing There are also biological arguments for why the definition of adolescence should be extended, including that the body continues to develop.

Read More...