Overview
- A longitudinal study published online June 25, 2026 tracked three U.S. college cohorts first surveyed in 1982, 1992 and 2002 and re-surveyed the same people 20 years later to measure “maturity fears.”
- Researchers found the 2002 cohort of college students reported significantly higher desires to return to the security of childhood than the 1992 and 1982 cohorts at the same ages.
- Across almost all cohorts and both genders, reported maturity fears fell as people aged, with the steepest declines among the younger cohorts and one exception: men from the 1982 cohort.
- The study uses a cohort-sequential design and validated survey items rather than causal tests, so authors do not claim to have identified why newer cohorts begin with higher fears.
- Authors call for follow-up research to test specific drivers such as economic uncertainty, social media influence, climate anxiety and COVID‑19 effects and say the pattern matters because fears about adulthood can shape mental health and life choices.