Hmm, given the time period at which it was written, probably 15 or 16 for males, and somewhere between 10-13 for females. Females were often considered women after their first period, so that would vary far more for females than males.
Yes, and males go through puberty a little later than females. The difference between child and adult, traditionally across most cultures, starts at a recognition of the ability to reproduce. Aside from some outliers, females begin to be able to reproduce consistently a bit after their first period, and males around the ages of 15-16. In scientific terms, physical adulthood begins after puberty is over (which varies a bit from person to person, sure, but is plenty measurable) and mental adulthood begins after the mid 20s, when the majority of humanity has finished forming and developing most brain structures. Scary to think that the part of the brain that contributes to decision making might not be fully formed in some people until they are 25, isn't it. Heck, in some people, it isn't finished until they are 30.
Even most people that are infertile go through puberty, and people make adulthood definitions around the norm, not outliers. I personally define adulthood around a person's mental maturity and age. So, there are some people the same age as myself whom I view as being more child than adult, and some people younger than myself that I view as more adult. To be blunt, there is no cut and dry universal standard of when a person goes from being a child to an adult, so feel free to use your own personal definition if you want. Physical aging can be accelerated through genetic defects (such as progeria, in which people age more than 10 times faster than most people), environment and life choices (living in a polluted area, feeling lots of stress, and smoking all speed up the aging process), so even that isn't a consistent means of making the distinction.
-_- people don't use outliers to define the norm. Just because someone went through puberty at an abnormally young age does not mean that we'd accept that person as an adult. Also, did you forget that I view someone as an adult based on mental maturity? I highly doubt any 5 year old would ever meet that standard.
People with dwarfism are not the norm, and thus do not contribute to the standard of "adulthood". To be very blunt, history was not kind to such people, and they were often treated as if they weren't human, so the adult distinction wouldn't have even been made until within the past 200 years, maybe less.
Meh, like I said, adulthood is not something so easy to pin down, due to cultural influences. As long as how it is defined is given, and isn't a total deviation from what adulthood can refer to, I personally don't care how people use the term.
Since about the first century bc males have been considered adults at 13 and females at 12.
Yes, and I was referring to outward appearance. In concerning the physical differences on the outside, male and female faces are not super distinct from each other. Internally, there are hormonal differences, some structural differences in the brain and some tissues, different hip structure... there's more difference on the inside than the outside.
