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From Discovery Channel News...

Serious Study: Immaturity Levels Rising
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

June 23, 2006 —The adage "like a kid at heart" may be truer than we think, since new research is showing that grown-ups are more immature than ever.

Specifically, it seems a growing number of people are retaining the behaviors and attitudes associated with youth.

As a consequence, many older people simply never achieve mental adulthood, according to a leading expert on evolutionary psychiatry.

Among scientists, the phenomenon is called psychological neoteny.

I read this and thought, "Yeah right." But then in my mind I went through a list of folks between the ages of 21 to 25 that I know or know of. I actually see a marked difference between those young adults who have left school (or maybe never finished) and got a job, especially a job people might call "demeaning" nowadays and those who've continued on with school ad nauseum or who still have one foot in some sort of psychological safety net (grad school, internships, and the like).

That isn't to say that one level is necessarily better than another--each has its own pros and cons. But, I've seen the difference.

I also know that there was a time where I would've loved to have stayed in grad school for the rest of my life...