How Old Are You Physiologically? The adolescence of the early teens is characterized by rapid bodily growth—growth in height, weight and sexual development. By eighteen, however, you are nearly as tall as you will ever be. Sexual growth, while not complete (especially for a girl), has reached a point where reproduction is possible. General growth slows down considerably and by twenty-four has just about stopped. For purposes of marriage the average person is “mature” physiologically by the age of twenty. But some require more time, because of glandular disturbances.
How Old Are You Mentally? We do not mean what is your I.Q., which is a measure of your capacity to learn, but rather the accumulation of your learning. In short, how wise are you? Normally a person must live twenty-one or twenty-two years before he has seen enough of life through schooling and practical experience to take on the responsibilities that go with marriage. If you have led a sheltered or one-sided life it will probably take longer.
How Old Are You Vocationally? A man, certainly, is not mature until he has established that he can earn a living. A college degree, a license to practice medicine, to teach, or to practice barbering are not enough. There must be a successful work record and that cannot be present until a person has used his vocational knowledge to make a living for a period of not less than one year.
Once it was thought that girls needed no special training vocationally but that notion is pretty well outdated now. Modern women like to feel independent, and frequently their ability to earn money is called into use. Perhaps the husband is a disabled war veteran, or perhaps the wife feels she needs a career to earn money. At the least, the girl entering marriage should already be capable of managing a home—and that requires skill and knowledge that can’t be learned in a night club.
Since some occupations require many more years of education and training than others, vocational maturity can fall anywhere between eighteen and twenty-six, but for most people it doesn’t come until about the age of twenty-two.
How Old Are You Sexually? Sexual maturity implies far more than the ability to beget or bear a child. Most morons can do this. Sexual maturity is largely determined by childhood and it is something most people either have or don’t have.