Central to the concept of childhood is when childhood ceases and when a child becomes an adult. Is there, or should there be, a single point of transition, or is adulthood achieved over time as maturity and increased responsibility are gained in different areas? The fundamental question seems to be whether children and adults are inherently different in some fundamental way, and passing from childhood reflects a specific stage of development, or whether adulthood is more notional and dependent on when adults, for whatever reason, think young people should become independent and responsible.

While there is some validity in Rousseau's (1762) view that childhood has “its own ways of seeing, thinking and feeling” which emerge as children grow up in their natural surroundings, it is also evident that children's development in different areas does not run parallel and that it may not be appropriate, for example, for young people to be allowed to drive a car at the same age as they are expected to take responsibility for their behaviour and actions. Of course, as James and Prout (1997) point out, vague and uncertain boundaries between childhood and adulthood make them problematic for sociological analysis.

This chapter addresses the considerable inconsistency and confusion surrounding accounts of growing up and achieving independence by asking young people and adults about transition points to young adulthood, as well as their views on questions such as whether children are growing up too quickly or whether they have to make too many decisions for themselves. First, however, the context is set by briefly outlining some of the outward signs of growing up, and examining legal restrictions on the ages at which young people are allowed to act in their own right, or required to take responsibility for their own actions.

Physical and biological maturity

The most evident and indisputable signs of growing up are the physical and biological changes that take place during puberty. These occur universally, but it is how they are understood and viewed within cultures that contributes to concepts of childhood. Growing taller is the most dramatic and visible aspect of growing physical maturity, and the pubertal growth rate doubles in speed and is greater than at any time since about two years of age.