Why is the age of 18 so important in American culture?

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Lower_Neck_1432@reddit

You answered your own question, it is the legal age of majority - thus, you can sign contracts, rent or buy your own home, vote, etc. We are certainly not the only country with 18 as the age of majority.

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WhereasTherefore@reddit

Legally it does make you an adult in like 48 states.

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jessek@reddit

Which two states does it not make you an adult? Pretty sure you can vote, join the army and sign a legally binding contract in all 50 states.

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WhereasTherefore@reddit

Nebraska’s age of majority is 19, but we’ve granted so many exceptions it doesn’t always seem like it. I believe Alabama is the other state.

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jessek@reddit

So it's age of majority but only for things that aren't federally regulated?

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Proud-Delivery-621@reddit

Yep. When I was 18 I would drive to Tennessee to buy cigarettes because as soon as I crossed the border it was legal. You could also do it on military bases because they're federally owned, but only one of my friends had a military ID so Tennessee was easier.

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Sensitive_Gap3671@reddit

From the perspective of an 18 year old: That’s when 95% of the population graduates highschool It’s when you are legally an adult (thus are responsible for acquiring certain things and documents) List goes on and on. A lot of jobs start hiring at that age too. You can also work full time if you want

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Duque_de_Osuna@reddit

It’s the definition of legal adulthood.

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Any_Scientist_7552@reddit

But you can't drink. Or rent a car.

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DrWooolyNipples@reddit

Or buy a lighter, paint, nicotine, stay at a hotel. Independent 18s these days barely get any adult privilege but they can still get kicked out. Brutal tbh

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WhatABeautifulMess@reddit

You can def stay in a hotel at 18. Some may use policies against it, or local laws, but not federal. Spray paint is 18 too. I’ve never seen a law about lighters, some stores have polices but that’s just corporate CYA stuff.

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Terrible_Minute_1664@reddit

in alaska retailers by law can't sell lighters that can be used to light tobacco products to people under 19. it's bullshit but exists.

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WhatABeautifulMess@reddit

Right, local laws. Federally we only regulate drinking, tobacco, and some firearms beyond 18.

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Any_Scientist_7552@reddit

Yeah, that's my point.

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Open-Neighborhood459@reddit

But you can buy cigarettes join the military sign loans get an apartment get married

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CarloSpicyWeinerr@reddit

but can be sent off to fight another mans war.

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TheBimpo@reddit

The age to join the military should be raised, the age to drink shouldn't be lowered.

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TheBimpo@reddit

Those two things have nothing to do with being a legal adult.

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jessek@reddit

Or smoke.

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Duque_de_Osuna@reddit

Car rental companies won’t re t cars to 18 year olds, that’s policy, not law. Drinking is true, but the US has a weird relationship with alcohol

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TheRealDudeMitch@reddit

There’s no law against renting a car at 18. It’s just most car rental companies don’t want the risk of relatively inexperienced drivers renting their cars.

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BoysenberryUnhappy29@reddit

At some point, society must agree on a number and stick to it.

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DrWooolyNipples@reddit

Except we don’t and you need to be 21 to buy a lighter, alcohol, and stay at a hotel, and 25 to rent a car.

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THE_CENTURION@reddit

>21 to buy a lighter, As far as I know there's absolutely no age limit on lighters. Someone may have mislead you. Or some hyper local law?

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Terrible_Minute_1664@reddit

alaska requires ID and for you to be 19 to buy small lighters or any tobacco related products

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BlueRubyWindow@reddit

No, 15+ US states require you to show ID and be 21 to buy a lighter.

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WhatABeautifulMess@reddit

So less than half of states. Not really ubiquitous enough to be part of our culture.

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THE_CENTURION@reddit

Whaaaaaaaat That's nuts. Never even heard of that before now. If anything you'd think it'd be 18. Do those states also require 21+ for cigarettes?

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MyUsername2459@reddit

As of December 20, 2019, every state in the union requires you to be 21 to buy cigarettes due to a Federal law. The requirement was a line-item in the 2020 Federal Budget, so it was passed as an Act of Congress.

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THE_CENTURION@reddit

Ope. Guess I'm a bit out of date in that area. Had no clue.

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MyUsername2459@reddit

I've never smoked in my life. I only knew about it because I saw signs go up about it in the local supermarket about it.

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Funny247365@reddit

Correct. Kids can buy lighters anywhere.

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7h3_70m1n470r@reddit

Unfortunately have been carded for a cigarette lighter. Same store didn't have to ID for a grill lighter tho 🤷‍♀️

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Cacafuego@reddit

Which is ridiculous. If you can join the military and be shot at, you should be able to buy alcohol and cigarettes.

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Firm_Emergency_6080@reddit

Ive heard many of the older generations say the same thing: and i agree. It was lower during Vietnam (which was up to states it seemed, until the National Minimum Drinking Act in 1984) "If youre old enough to die for your country, youre old enough to drink"

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Cacafuego@reddit

Yes, as someone who turned 18 not long after that law was passed, I remember it well :) All hail the insurance lobby. It's a balancing act, because raising the drinking and smoking age clearly saves lives. You could raise it another 4 years and save more lives. Or prevent people from driving altogether. But I think the ability to join the military and vote is the clear indication that someone is an adult, and they should have all the rights pertaining thereto. If we want responsible 18 year-olds, that's an education and upbringing issue.

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BaseClean@reddit

This.

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TheBimpo@reddit

Raise the age for military to 21, don't lower the age for alcohol. If you're too dumb to drink, you're too dumb to die for oil.

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Cacafuego@reddit

I don't know. I have this feeling (backed by tons of anecdotal evidence, but nothing solid) that we're keeping people in a juvenile state for too long, already. At some point, you need to be responsible for your own actions. We used to have kids roaming the neighborhoods, now they sometimes never leave the yard, and some helicopter parents monitor their activities through college. If we raise the age to 21, I think we'll find that people don't develop responsibility and agency until 24. And it will just continue like that. I work at a university, and some of the students are using those years to learn about life as an adult, but not enough of them. 18 is too young to die for oil, but I think it's old enough to make your own decisions. Or it should be.

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GreenBeanTM@reddit

You can raise the age to join the military to 21 without keeping people in a high school child state for 3 more years.

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Curmudgy@reddit

And 13 for a company to legally collect personal online data from you without parental permission, and between 16 and 18 for a teen’s consent to sex with an older adult to make the sex legal.

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TheBimpo@reddit

Those numbers have changed over time, so they're all arbitrary numbers that society adjusted to based on the societal norms of that period. Tobacco just changed a few years ago and hotels/cars/insurance is all based on risk factors of those companies' policies.

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BoysenberryUnhappy29@reddit

It actually varies for car rental. It's not a federal thing. Hotels aren't generally a legal thing, either, but a liability issue hotels choose to avoid.

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DrWooolyNipples@reddit

Okay? It’s still a cultural issue. Even active military on orders can have issues getting a hotel room when they’re under 21.

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tinypicklefrog@reddit

Legal threshold to join the military. It's also usually when people graduate high school and either start college or join the workforce.

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No_Profession1935@reddit

It is the "age of majority" when citizens can vote, buy a house, enlist in the military, etc. It's when most high school seniors graduate and enter the workforce or continue on to higher education. Or, as mentioned, the military.

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MoriKitsune@reddit

Last I checked, 17yos can enlist with parental permission

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Any_Scientist_7552@reddit

But can't drink or rent a car.

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Cool-Coffee-8949@reddit

You keep bringing those two up, like they are in the Bill of Rights or something. They aren’t.

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Any_Scientist_7552@reddit

I posted it twice. I just find it ironic that you can be drafted but can't legally have a beer. Drinking age used to be lower.

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Caelarch@reddit

Although these are true, they come from different places. You can drink because the law prohibits it. You can’t rent a car because businesses in their own interests have decided not to rent to 18-24 year olds. So far as I know there is no legal prohibition against renting a car to anyone with a license, regardless of age.

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shelwood46@reddit

It also means the parents are no longer entitled to children's benefits (and often child support), which often cut off at 18 or high school graduation (but no later than 19), whichever is later. Foster kids get turfed out of the system. Social Security survivor's benefits have cut off then since the early 80s (my dad died 2 weeks after the Reagan folks changed the rules that it used to go through college; thanks, Ronnie). That's usually the real reason kids in poor families have to leave or pay rent at 18.

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SnooRadishes7189@reddit

Depends some can be cut off at 16 because that is the age when Child labor laws no longer apply.

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Gallantpride@reddit

18 is the Age of Majority.

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ChemicalCockroach914@reddit

You become legally responsible for your own actions and for representing yourself in our government institutions. Used to be you could drink and smoke at that age too. There’s also military service and the draft (however unlikely it is to be used these days)

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mr_miggs@reddit

Do parents really stop caring about what their kids do when they’re 18? I’m not sure that’s been my experience. I feel like most parents, at least a good, care with their kids are up to for their whole lives.

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Bad_RabbitS@reddit

It’s the legal age of consent, it is the line at which you are an “adult” on paper. As to why 18 specifically? I don’t know the history, but it makes sense that it’s a number in the late teens because imagine having to wait until your mid 20s before you can legally represent your own interests. 18 is a compromise between when you actually settle more fully into your adulthood and still being a teenager that lives off their parents.

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cdb03b@reddit

The age of 18 is the legal threshold of adult hood. Nothing more.

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goblin_hipster@reddit

You actually literally know why. It's because you're legally considered an adult.

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Curmudgy@reddit

The age of majority is 19, not 18, in AL and NE.

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Curmudgy@reddit

The age of majority is 19, not 18, in AL and NE. (References can be found on [this Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_majority#Age_19).

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FivebyFive@reddit

>There's so many strict parents who will automatically stop caring what their kids do once they go to bed on their 18th birthday Please show me stats on this.

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Funny247365@reddit

18 is the most common age for people graduating from high school and either going to college, taking on a trade, or pursuing another career path. 18 is a year of transition from mostly childish pursuits to true adult pursuits.

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Loud_Inspector_9782@reddit

You can vote.

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MuchDevelopment7084@reddit

Only since the protests during the Vietnam war. In 1970 the Voting rights Act was passed. Allowing eighteen year old's the right to vote for the first time. A large part of the protests was the fact that you could be drafted to fight in Vietnam; and still not have the right to vote. A big problem. It was finally ratified with the 26th amendment in 1971.

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MyUsername2459@reddit

Amusingly the Voting Rights Act of 1970 was ruled unconstitutional in Oregon v. Mitchell, because Oregon absolutely refused to lower their voting age and fought it in court. The Supreme Court ruled that Congress can't set a voting age by legislation, that because States control the election process, they can set whatever voting age they want. Less than 7 months later, that decision was nullified by the 26th Amendment being rapidly proposed, approved by Congress, then ratified by enough states. . . .though, while the voting age was changed, I think that a SCOTUS precedent affirming the limits Congress can have on regulating elections may well come up as relevant in the near future.

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Hopeful_Pizza_2762@reddit

You can legally sign documents so ne careful what you sign.

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Bluemonogi@reddit

It is what our society has legally decided is an adult. It doesn’t mean we believe an 18 year old is smarter or more mature than they were at 17 years and 11 months old. From a parent perspective- once my kid is 18 in most states I am no longer obligated to financially support them or house them. I am not responsible for what they do. I might choose to continue to help them but I don’t have to. From an 18 year old’s perspective- In most states I am considered an adult. I am done with mandatory education. I can enter contracts. I can open a bank account on my own. My medical information can be kept from my family. I can leave my parents home and live on my own. I can vote. I can join the military without parental consent. I will be held responsible for my actions. I need to be careful about having a sexual relationship with someone underage but I could have consensual sex with someone older without legal issues. I can marry in most states anyone else of legal age.

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SabresBills69@reddit

it goes back to years ago… at 18 after high school. 1 you could drink 2. you could start your working life at a job moving out of your parents living in your own. 3. many started getting married 4. at 18 you have legal signing authority on things. in the 1980s drink age change to 21. other rules were raised to 21 and 25.

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CrunkNugget64@reddit

Because it legally allows you to do almost anything

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Jcs609@reddit

Except to acquire alcohol from a licensed seller, buy handguns, gamble, or get legalized substances from a licensed seller.

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CrunkNugget64@reddit

I said ALMOST anything

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No-Contact6664@reddit

Gambling is 18-21. Depends on the state. A few are at 18. At 18 you're gonna have trouble getting into places with alcohol. But almost anything means anything you have constitutional rights to.

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TehWildMan_@reddit

In some states, it's the legal threshold of what defines an adult. For example, in some of the US, an 18 year old can open a bank account or sign a lease without parental consent. A 17 year old can't.

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Tommy_Wisseau_burner@reddit

You answered your own question: you’re legally an adult

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AcitizenOfNightvale@reddit

Legal threshold is a big deal to us due to independence being a priority + folks from problematic households wanting/needing to get out. Me and my friend group were also super excited to turn 18, we had all moved out of our parents by our early teens and had jobs. That little 18 number made a big difference with legality especially with none of us being emancipated. Wealthy kids with good families didn’t care as much as we did.

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Cinisajoy2@reddit

You can vote and get married. Now unless it has changed in California you can be married and have a kid at 19, but if your spouse verbally abuses you, the spouse can be charged with both spousal and child abuse.

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ScatterTheReeds@reddit

They had to pick a cut off year, so they chose 18 because that’s more or less when people finish high.

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JohnnyDigsIt@reddit

Some individuals can handle adult responsibilities at a younger age, some really need a few more years to mature. I don’t know how we settled on 18 as the legal start of adulthood. In most families there is no dramatic change in the family dynamics when a child turns 18. It does happen occasionally, dramatic changes are memorable and make good stories. That may be why it appears to be more prevalent than it actually is.

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CrowApprehensive204@reddit

Parenting is very difficult now, there is a huge amount of pressure, right from conception. Baby must be breast fed, parents need to work but also must be available 24 hours a day. Kids must have play dates, activities, friends, tutoring, volunteering, a part time job, good grades and parents are expected to facilitate all this. It's just too much, work like you haven't got kids, parent like you haven't got a job. A lot of parents feel they are able to breathe a big sigh of relief when the kid hits eighteen, like we've made it this far, it's up to you now, run free.

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ith228@reddit

18 is common in most countries.

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MerryWannaRedux@reddit

For today, at least, there's no draft. But at one time, you had to enlist at age 18. Many consider the possibility of having to go to war as an adult. 18 is also considered an adult is he/she has sex with a minor.

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Certain-Monitor5304@reddit

Unpopular opinion. It should be changed to 20 in regards to everything. Voting, serving in the military, buying alcohol, marriage, renting, driving, etc.

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jewboy916@reddit

Because deadbeat parents can't get welfare for their kids once they turn 18. So they kick them out.

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ElectricSnowBunny@reddit

Pff can't even rent a car yet

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PaepsiNW@reddit

You can with some rental car companies, you’re just usually charged extra. It’s more of a liability thing than a legal thing.

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Leverkaas2516@reddit

Age 18 is the age we've chosen at which you normally graduate from high school and can: * vote * sign binding legal contracts * enter the military * own a car or other property * get an unrestricted driver's license, even a CDL * have sex with anyone older, regardless of age It's BECAUSE of these legal aspects that it's such an important cultural threshold. A minor is assumed by both law and culture to be under the authority, guidance, and responsibility of an adult. The morning of your 18th birthday, you are unbelievably free in so many ways that you were not the day before.

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Similar-Breadfruit50@reddit

Sex. It’s when the men can have sex with teenagers legally.

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0_IceQueen_0@reddit

Speaking as an Asian American, It's the age where kids think they can make their own decisions. It's also the age where some parents think that they can get kick out their kids lol. In both cases, 18 is equivalent to freedom.

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Hopeful_Pizza_2762@reddit

I got kicked out on my 18th birthday with no warning.

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0_IceQueen_0@reddit

Sorry you had to go through that. We're Asian so we don't ascribe to that. Hope you landed on your feet.

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MangaMaven@reddit

I think that it's one of the more quiet cultural rites of passage. Parents don't switch modes because of the legal status; they switch because the rite has also quietly taken place. And maybe the process of maturing is so subtle that it helps some families to have an objective sign that the reigns need be handed over. Even if it is almost completely arbitrary and some people can manage their lives much better at 16 than others can manage at 50, I think we picked that age because it in the ballpark of when people can be more independence. (Though that's just a hypothesis. You'd have to get some kind of cultural historian socio-anthropologist whatever to give you the actual academic answer.)

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Comfortable-Dish1236@reddit

It’s the age when you can first vote, join the military (without needing permission from a parent/guardian) and at one time, drink beer and wine in many states.

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kludge6730@reddit

Florida grandfathered under 18 to drink provided you were active duty military personnel.

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Bulky-Reaction8107@reddit

Because until recently people moved out when they turned 18.

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jessek@reddit

Typically it’s the age you graduate high school and you become an adult as far as being able to join the military or sign a contract. Used to be the age you could buy cigarettes but they changed that.

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Prestigious_Ebb_9987@reddit

Because Alice Cooper wrote [a song about it ](https://youtu.be/3N9FAvcV_tU)(released in 1970), and because the 26th Amendment happened shortly thereafter, allowing 18-year-olds to vote. At the time, the Vietnam "conflict" was raging and young people were being drafted into military service and sent to die but they couldn't even vote, so we changed that. That's when turning 18 became a big deal, and I don't think it's something that GenZ or even Millennials will understand, especially since they insist on extending their high school experience with four years of college and refuse to leave their parents' homes.

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Boring_Investigator0@reddit

Truthfully, because we needed more people to be drafted, it used to be 21. But in fact, we become adults in stages, there is an age where you can get left home alone, the the age you can drive a car, then the age you can smoke, join the military, vote and be legally considered an adult, then the age you can drink and smoke weed.

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Littleboypurple@reddit

Legal importance makes it a cultural importance. You're legally allowed to do a bunch of stuff now because the government now considers you an adult. You no longer need parental permission.

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x0_Kiss0fDeath@reddit

The problem is that 18 makes you an "adult" yet there is a lot you can't do (like drink - for example) until you're 21 so I also agree 18 feels a bit of a pointless milestone.

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jeff1074@reddit

18 is the end of the tutorial. You are now expected to be a functioning member of society. You need to make money, pay taxes, mistakes have a real impact on your life, no more hand holding. It’s not uncommon for parents to say you’re an adult now and give you the boot.

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Hamblin113@reddit

No longer a kid. Will be responsible for your own actions. Parents are no longer liable for your actions. Though due to past actions, some of 18 year old rights have been taken away, like alcohol. Some gun rights.

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ProjectGameGlow@reddit

It is when you are old enough to be drafted for war. During the Vietnam War people were being drafted at 18 but were not allowed to vote for or against war until they turned 18. They fought hard for the right to vote at 18. Constitutional Amendment Hard of a fight. Now let’s take a look at Europe. In Ukraine the started drafting adults in their late 20s. When a 28 year old is drafted they already had a few chances to vote. Here in the USA American boys are still required to register with the selective service for possible drafts when they turn 18.

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Terrible-Image9368@reddit

You’re legally an adult. You can vote and sign lega documents. Can’t drink though

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WowsrsBowsrsTrousrs@reddit

There are 335 million of us; a case by case basis is completely impractical.

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WhichWitch9402@reddit

It’s the age our laws consider you an adult. You can sign contracts, take out loans, etc. without a parent or legal guardian co-signing.

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Rattlingplates@reddit

18 is when you can legally make your own choices. It’s the day I left my parents home would’ve left sooner but wasn’t legal. I love them but that’s the age I chose to become a man.

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Say_Hennething@reddit

>There's so many strict parents who will automatically stop caring what their kids do once they go to bed on their 18th birthday. This is not nearly as prevalent as you seem to suggest. Where are you getting the idea that parents stop caring once their child turns 18? >In a lot of other countries. 18 is only of legal importance, not cultural This is how it is in the US as well. The question you posed is based on a false premise.

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Not_An_Isopod@reddit

I mean they discovered the human brain isn’t fully developed by 26. But yeah at some point you have to decide when old enough is old enough. Need body’s to feed into the military industrial complex

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sanfrancisco1998@reddit

It all depends on the independence you have. For me I felt like an adult at 16 because I had moved on my own and could basically do what an adult was doing I worked, I had tried alcohol and cigarettes though I hated the taste of both and didn’t try either after a few tries, by the time I was 18 I could vote and that was exciting, by the time I was 21 I could drink and smoke legally but that didn’t faze me as I hadn’t done that in years.

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silvahammer@reddit

It's the age at which it's deemed acceptable for you to die in warfare. That's the actual reason. The voting age wasn't lowered to 18 until 1971, due to the obvious discrepancy there.

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Exotic_Insurance2164@reddit

Legally, you are an adult at 18.

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Hopeful_Pizza_2762@reddit

You have the benefit and privilege of staying out all night and the police and your parents can't force you to go home.

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Loud_Ad_4515@reddit

My mom started charging me rent when I turned 18. For most, it's just a legal change from minor to age of majority. The right to vote, enter into contracts, register for selective service. For a while after the Vietnam war, the drinking age was 18.

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TankDestroyerSarg@reddit

At 18 you are considered a legal adult. Mentally, emotionally, and physically developed enough to have completed all your basic education and be a functioning member of society. It's an arbitrary number in most ways, but since we settled on it, reaching 18 means you are now a full adult responsible for yourself and not subject to your parents orders.

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rileyoneill@reddit

You leave high school at 18, you can vote at 18, in periods of low cost of living people will often move out at 18.

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sneezhousing@reddit

It's the age no longer a minor. Most of the world has decided on that as the year. A year had to be picked and.thats what was landed on

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DragonKing0203@reddit

It would be a logistical nightmare to treat every single thing as a case by case basis. At some point we had to pick a number and just make it the line in the sand, simply so we can function as a large society. Is there fundamentally that much difference between someone who’s 17 years and 11 months old and a freshly turned 18 year old? Not really. But we realized that if we had to look at all 300 million people individually to decide if they’re allowed to do adult things or not society wouldn’t function.

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RoosterzRevenge@reddit

Age to vote, get drafted if the draft is ongoing, buy link guns.

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rewt127@reddit

Im gonna talk out my ass here. It might have something to do with the US having s fairly repressive culture. With the legal 18 number, suddenly the whole "wont someone please think of the children" mindset goes away. So you go from being functionally sheltered to a free for all of sex, drugs, and fast cars. That 18 number is also basically the number everyone finishes high-school at. So you leave the structured system of childhood at the age.

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Constellation-88@reddit

In other cultures 15 is culturally an adult or 13. I don’t know that many people in America who start ignoring their kids at age 18. The only people I know who do that are parents who don’t wanna be parents anyway. Most people I know didn’t move out of their parents’ house fully until they were 22 or 23. Even if they didn’t go to college, nobody I know moved out the month they turned 18. So here in my neck of the American Woods, 18 is only a legal thing too. Maybe you get a special birthday party but otherwise… Not much different than 16 or 21 or any of the other ages of majority. I don’t know what you’re experiencing.

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cmiller4642@reddit

Because most younger Americans have an expectation of growing up and moving out of the house as fast as possible compared to other countries. Kids are taught from a very young age to learn independence and individuality. 18 is really the age when Mom and Dad can be like "K we're done" and stop taking you on vacations, make you go get a job, etc...

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ShipComprehensive543@reddit

It is around the age where people finish their education before college, so it was settled on as a good age for becoming a legal adult. Just like we settled on 16 as being a good age to legally drive.

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yossariandawn@reddit

What is legal and what is cultural are linked though. Age of majority has to have a legal definition, and we've (mostly) agreed here that is it when you get to 18. Do you not have a legal definition of when someone is an adult where you live?

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No-Contact6664@reddit

You answered it. It's a legal threshold.

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ancj9418@reddit

18 is only of legal importance in America too. It’s the legal importance that *makes* it of importance.

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