In 1902, a Scottish novelist introduced a character who quickly became iconic. Peter Pan was a boy who could fly. He zipped between reality and an imaginary world, sometimes taking other children with him.
Peter Pan was eternally a boy. He would never grow up, nor did he want to mature. Growing up would mean a loss of adventure and the burden of responsibility.
Peter Pan Syndrome is now used to describe adults who struggle with accepting the responsibilities that come with adulthood. Although it’s not a formal diagnosis, social scientists have developed ways to measure the syndrome so clinicians can better recognize and address it.
The Responsibilities of Emerging Adulthood
The notion of what it means to be an adolescent is a fairly fluid concept that has changed over time and across cultures. For most of U.S. history, children and adolescents were expected (or forced) to work in some capacity. Following the Second World War, the concept of adolescence as a unique life stage was bolstered by advertisers who saw profit potential in targeting a teen market.
