What makes an adult an adult? YouGov’s latest research, conducted for BBC documentary Club 18-30, asks Britons what are the signs that youth is fading, and someone is on the fast track to being a grown up.
Overall, Britons are most likely to say that owning your own home is a “very good” or “fairly good” indicator of being grown up (84%), followed by 78% who think having a full-time job is a good marker of being grown up, and a similar proportion of people (76%) who think moving out of the family home is as well.
A majority (70%) also think that shopping around for deals on your household bills is a good sign you are a grown up, while just shy of two thirds (65%) think that graduating university is also a marker of adulthood (however only 44% think that going to university means someone is grown up).
Around six in ten people tend to think that getting married (62%), knowing your credit score (62%), and meal planning (61%) also show you are a grown up.
While a large majority say that fiscal responsibilities such as home ownership and bills are good signs of being grown up, they are less likely think that having children is a good indicator of being grown up at 52%.
Among the indicators that fewer than half of Britons think are good markers for someone being a grown up are passing your driving test (47%) and getting excited about buying cleaning products (44%).
Getting excited over cleaning products as a marker of being grown up is more popular with people aged 34 and under, 57% of whom say this is a good marker of grown up compared to 41% of those 35 and over. Those aged 34 and under are also more likely to think that having strong opinions about the stacking of dishwashers is a good marker of age (39%, versus 30% of the 35-pluses).
By contrast, those 35 and over are more likely to think that talking about the weather is a good indicator for being grown up (32%) compared to those 34 and under (19%).
Many of these indicators can occur at any age, however, so YouGov also asked Britons at what age they felt started to feel like a grown up. Age 18 (11%) is the most common single answer, unsurprisingly as it is the age at which adulthood legally begins. While 7% first felt grown up at 21, it is slightly later in the early twenties (between 22 and 23) when over half of adults say they began to feel like a grown up.
However, some 13% of Britons feel they still have not grown up. This figure is highest among the young at 33% of the 18-24 year olds, as well as 19% of those aged between 25 and 34, and 16% of people aged between 35 and 49. Among 50-64 year olds, 7% report still not feeling like a grown up, as do a youthful 5% of those 65 and over.
See full results here