from my experience with friends and acquaintances over the course of my life, I have found a trend with people who care a lot about being perceived as adults -

from my experience with friends and acquaintances over the course of my life, I have found a trend with people who care a lot about being perceived as adults - they are almost all very unhappy and unfulfilled in their lives. Not sure if this mirrors anyone else's observations. It seems a lot of people believe the need to be responsible is inseparable from looking like you fit into a narrow definition of what is perceived as responsible. But maybe I am just observing the result of living your life being concerned about how you look in general and not specifically about adult-ness.