"Youth"

[Bluegoat]

When you hear the word youth what age group do you generally think of?

I saw a thing for youth and urban issues and went to look at the website, thinking it might cover dd13s age group.  

I was very surprised to see that it was for "youth" age 18 to 30!  That seems well beyond youth to me!

I wondered if that was peculiar to me, or that's a widespread impression.

[klmama]

It would surprise me, too.  That group is called "young adults" in my world.

[PrincessMommy]

that would surprise me too.  I think under 18 when I think of youth.   Maybe I would stretch it to under 20... but I figure once you're college age you're a young adult.  

[73349]

I think of "youth" as 14 or 15 up to maybe 19.

[SKL]

It depends on the context, but I think usually high school age, possibly including junior high / middle school.  In some contexts it would include all minors.  In others, maybe some young college students or young adults needing special services.

I don't think I've ever seen it include up to age 30.  Is this part of that "extended adolescence" stuff?

Edited December 3, 2018 by SKL

[MysteryJen]

That is strange. I think of youth as 13-19, I guess.

I had three babies by the time I was thirty. 20-30 should be adults. 

[MercyA]

When I think of youth, I think of our youth group at church, which is consists of kids in middle school / junior high and high school. 

[Lori D.]

Our homeschool group, local "youth" sports and theater groups, and the churches we have attended all define youth as middle and high school -- grades 6-12, or roughly age 12-13 through age 18 or 19. Because of that consistency among these different organizations, I just assumed that was the definition of youth. I would consider age 18+ to be "adult". The only other designation I can think for that 18-30 age range is possibly "college age", or "20-somethings".

Edited December 3, 2018 by Lori D.

[Bluegoat]

Ok, so I am not hugely off.  I tend to think high school and maybe jr high, maybe up to about 19 or 20.

I will say I did see this once before, the youth wing of the Sierra club included up to age 30, but that was many years ago.

I have also wondered about the extended adolescence thing.  My neighbour was a grandmother at 40, she was hardly a youth at 30!

 

[Lori D.]

3 minutes ago, Bluegoat said:

...I have also wondered about the extended adolescence thing...

A few hundred years ago, the term "youth" meant "older childhood", so a youth would have been young person from about age 5-6 through age 12-14. Back then, by the teen years, most kids were apprenticed or doing adult level of work. It wasn't until the 1920s that the idea of "teenager" came into use, as a result of changing child labor laws and spread of public education/schools.

It looks like extended adolescence in the US has come into existence gradually, from the late 1960s through the 1990s. Here's an article on a review of 7 surveys taken from 1976-2016 on delayed adulthood.

Edited December 3, 2018 by Lori D.

[Hannah]

I was surprised recently when I heard that the criteria for a 'youth development program' was 18-35.  We were speculating amongst ourselves if that meant one is only regarded as 'adult' these days after age 35?  Which happily pushes out becoming middle aged and elderly!

If someone had asked me before, I'd have said around 16 to 24 (high school to end of university).  Teenage and young adult.

 

[Lori D.]

4 minutes ago, Hannah said:

I was surprised recently when I heard that the criteria for a 'youth development program' was 18-35.  We were speculating amongst ourselves if that meant one is only regarded as 'adult' these days after age 35?

Maybe our culture is turning "hobbit-like", as hobbits don't become full adults until 33. (:D
"...tweens as hobbits called the irresponsible twenties between childhood and the coming of age at thirty-three." -- Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien)

[Faith-manor]

When I hear the word, I think of middle and high school students. 18 to 22 seems like young adult to me though I refrain from using the word young because my adult children don't like it LOL. "Adult mom. I'm an adult. Not a young adult."

When I was 30 I had one child, pregnant with another, working full time as a band and choir director in a parochial school, possessed two bachelor's degrees, and was chair of a community charitable group. This does not seem like "youth" to me, and I know I didn't feel that young!

[Farrar]

It would definitely depend on the context. In clothing, it's younger than in, say, a "youth group" at a church. Like, most teens can't fit into "youth" sizes anymore. I forget what they actually call it, but there are big discounts for opera and symphony tickets for young people in most cities - and those go up to age 35. If an elderly person said, "Youth today..." then I might assume it was into people's 20's.

[DesertBlossom]

"Youth" extends all the way to 30? But if you're pregnant at 35 you're of "advanced maternal age." Apparently a lot happens in those 5 years. 😆

In the LDS church our youth are ages 12-17. 18 and up are young adults.

[Lady Florida.]

While I think of 30 as still being quite young I also think of 30 year olds as fully adult. Youth to me is late teens to very early twenties.

[wintermom]

I've seen that age range defined as "youth" in government programs. I think it's meant to encompass post-secondary student ages. At least it has in the examples I've seen.

[Sherry in OH]

I think of youth as being too old for children's programs but not old enough for adult programs.  In most contexts, this corresponds to ages 12/13 through 17/18 (7th through 12th grades) although it sometimes includes 10 and 11 year olds.  

I have seen young adult used to mean ages 16-18, 18-20, and 18-24, depending on context.   

[Lady Florida.]

Is anyone else hearing Joe Pesci when they read the thread title? 😄 

 

 

[MEmama]

Elementary to middle school.

DS is 15 almost 16 and I view him as a becoming-a-young adult. I guess my distinction is in reference to what "youth" sports encompasses. I would never refer or think of his peers as "youths".