There are two types of ages: the physical and emotional age. A
childish adult is basically a person whose physical age is that of an
adult, but whose emotional age is that of a child.
Damilola Ojo shares 5 signs of a childish adult.
Looking for Who to Blame
When
an adult hardly takes responsibility for his/her actions, and
constantly looks for who to blame, that’s might be a sign of emotional
immaturity in an adult. Typically, when things go wrong children look
for who to blame, while adults take responsibility and try to figure out
how to fix the problem.
Poor Impulse Control
Children
tend to be impulsive when they are hurt or mad – they speak recklessly
or take impulsive action without pausing to think about the
consequences. Adults that mimic such behavior when reacting to issues
show signs of emotional immaturity. Adults are typically better at
self-control and understand themselves enough to calm themselves and
resist the impulse to act before they think in a given situation. This
is not to say that adults don’t occasional have ‘slips’, but this happen
less with an adult than a child.
Immature Defense Mechanisms
One
primitive defense mechanism is denial: ‘I didn’t say that!’; ‘I never
did that!’, when the individual actually said so. These are immature
defense mechanisms used by a child to protect himself/herself or escape
tight corners. Another primitive defense mechanism, is attacking or
being hostile to anyone who says something different or has a different
view from yours. Adults that have such immature defense mechanisms can
to a large extent be considered childish adults. They still have a lot
of growing up to do in this aspect.
Need to be Center of Attention
This
point speaks for itself. It’s safe to say that an adult whose priority
is to always be the center of attention still has some growing up to do.
Lack of an ‘Observing Ego’
Emotionally
mature adults have outbursts, but what’s different about them is that
after their outburst, they soon after realize, with their ‘observing
ego’, that their outburst was inappropriate. They can see with hindsight
and admit that such behavior was against their value system. On the
other hand, children have not yet been able to internalize guidelines
for respectful behavior and develop a value system. As a result, they
don’t have the ability to judge when their actions are out of line and
thus blame others. Adults whose behaviors are in line with this child
like response can be considered childish adults.
