A group of adult people.

An adult is a human being or living organism that is of relatively mature age, typically associated with sexual maturity and the attainment of reproductive age. In human context, the term has other subordinate meanings associated with social and legal concepts; for example, a legal adult is a legal concept for a person who has attained the age of majority and is therefore regarded as independent, self-sufficient, and responsible (contrast with "minor"). Adulthood can be defined in terms of physiology, psychological adult development, law, personal character, or social status.

These different aspects of adulthood are often inconsistent and contradictory. A person may be biologically an adult, and have adult behavior but still be treated as a child if they are under the legal age of majority. Conversely one may legally be an adult but possess none of the maturity and responsibility that may define adult character.

An event relating to the oncoming of adulthood is Coming of age, which encompasses passing a series of tests to demonstrate that a person is prepared for adulthood, or reaching a specified age, sometimes in conjunction with demonstrating preparation. Most modern societies determine legal adulthood based on reaching a legally specified age without requiring a demonstration of physical maturity or preparation for adulthood.

Some propose that moving into adulthood involves an emotional structuring of denial, suggesting this process becomes necessary to cope with one's own behavior, especially in uncomfortable situations, and also the behavior of others.^{[citation needed]}

Biological adulthood[link]

Historically and cross-culturally, adulthood has been determined primarily by the start of puberty (the appearance of secondary sex characteristics such as menstruation in women, ejaculation in men, and pubic hair in both sexes). In the past, a person usually moved from the status of child directly to the status of adult, often with this shift being marked by some type of coming-of-age test or ceremony.^[1]

Most medical and general English dictionaries define childhood as the period from infancy to puberty, thus historically adulthood began with puberty. After the social construct of adolescence was created, adulthood split into two forms: biological adulthood and social adulthood. Thus, there are now two primary forms of adults: biological adults (people who have attained reproductive ability, are fertile, or who evidence secondary sex characteristics) and social adults (people who are recognized by their culture and/or law as being adults). Depending on the context, adult can indicate either definition.

Although few or no established dictionaries provide a definition for the two word term biological adult, the first definition of adult in multiple dictionaries includes "the stage of the life cycle of an animal after reproductive capacity has been attained".^[2][3] Thus, the base definition of the word adult is the period beginning at puberty. Although this is the primary definition of the base word adult, the two word term biological adult stresses or clarifies that the original definition, based on the beginning of puberty, is being used (that is, the organism has matured to the biologically important point of being able to reproduce).

Although there is no scientific agreement on when physical maturation completes, in modern society social adulthood somewhat corresponds to the completion of physical maturation. Because the term adult is most often used without the adjective social or biological, and since the term is frequently used to refer to social adults, some writers have taken the meaning of the two word phrase biological adult to begin at the end of physical maturation rather than the onset of puberty.

In modern developed countries, puberty and therefore biological adulthood generally begins around 10 or 11 years of age for girls and 12 or 13 years of age for boys, though this will vary from person to person. ^[4][5]

Legal adulthood[link]

Legally it means that one can engage in a contract. The same or a different minimum age may be applicable to, for example, parents losing parenting rights and duties regarding the person concerned, parents losing financial responsibility, marriage, voting, having a job, serving in the military, buying/possessing firearms (if legal at all), driving, traveling abroad, involvement with alcoholic beverages (if legal at all), smoking, sex, gambling (both lottery and casino) being a prostitute or a client of a prostitute (if legal at all), being a model or actor in pornography, etc. Admission of a young person to a place may be restricted because of danger for that person, concern that the place may lead the person to immoral behavior, and/or because of the risk that the young person causes damage (for example, at an exhibition of fragile items).

One can distinguish the legality of acts of a young person, and of enabling a young person to carry out that act, by selling, renting out, showing, permitting entrance, participating, etc. There may be distinction between commercially and socially enabling. Sometimes there is the requirement of supervision by a legal guardian, or just by an adult. Sometimes there is no requirement, but just a recommendation.

With regard to pornography one can distinguish:

• being allowed inside an adult establishment
• being allowed to purchase pornography
• being allowed to possess pornography
• another person being allowed to sell, rent out, or show the young person pornography, see disseminating pornography to a minor
• being a pornographic actor: rules for the young person, and for other people, regarding production, possession, etc. (see child pornography)

With regard to films with violence, etc.:

• another person being allowed to sell, rent out, or show the young person a film, a cinema being allowed to let a young person (under 18) enter

The legal definition of entering adulthood usually varies between ages 16–21, depending on the region in question. Some cultures in Africa define adult at age 13.

According to Jewish tradition, adulthood is reached at age 13 (the age of the Bar Mitzvah), for Jewish boys, for example, are expected to demonstrate preparation for adulthood by learning the Torah and other Jewish practices. The Christian Bible and Jewish scripture has no age requirement for adulthood or marrying, which includes engaging in sexual activity. The age of consent for sexual relations in the Vatican is 13,^{[citation needed]} the age when many girls achieve menses, and are thus reproductive and therefore physically capable of marriage and childbirth. However, the Vatican does not allow sex outside of marriage.^[6] The 1983 Code of Canon Law states, "A man before he has completed his sixteenth year of age, and likewise a woman before she has completed her fourteenth year of age, cannot enter a valid marriage".^[7] According to The Disappearance of Childhood by Neil Postman, the Christian Church of the Middle Ages considered the age of accountability, when a person could be tried and even executed as an adult, to be age 7.

In most of the world, including most of the United States, parts of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Wales), India and China, the legal adult age is 18 (historically 21) for most purposes, with some notable exceptions:

1. The United Kingdom: Scotland (16)
2. British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Yukon Territory in Canada; Nebraska and Alabama in The United States, and South Korea (19)
3. Indonesia and Japan (20)

See also[link]

References[link]

Emma Roberts
Roberts at the Denim Habit Store Opening 2011.
Born	Emma Rose Roberts (1991-02-10) February 10, 1991 (age 21) Rhinebeck, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, voice actress, singer, model
Years active	2001–present
Parents	Eric Roberts Kelly Cunningham
Website
www.emmaroberts.net

Emma Rose Roberts (born February 10, 1991) is an American actress, model and singer. She is the daughter of actor Eric Roberts and niece of Julia Roberts. Roberts became known for her role as Addie Singer in the Nickelodeon television series Unfabulous. She released her debut album, which also served as the show's soundtrack Unfabulous and More. Roberts then pursued a solo singing career by recording two songs for the soundtracks of Ice Princess and Aquamarine (in which Roberts starred as one of the leads). Roberts then began to focus on her acting career, the title character in the 2007 film Nancy Drew, and her voice-over debut in The Flight Before Christmas.

In 2008 and 2009, Roberts was cast in the coming-of-age movies Wild Child, Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac and Lymelife. Roberts appeared in the 2009 family film Hotel for Dogs and The Winning Season. In 2010, she appeared in Valentine's Day, which also starred Julia Roberts. Later the same year, she had a leading role in It's Kind of a Funny Story. In 2010, she played the role of Molly in the Joel Schumacher film Twelve. In 2011, she starred as one of the leads, Jill Roberts, in the slasher film Scream 4.

Early life[link]

Roberts was born in Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, New York.^[1] She is the daughter of actor Eric Roberts and Kelly Cunningham.^[2] She is the stepdaughter of Eliza Roberts and Kelly Nickels (formerly of L.A. Guns), and the niece of actresses Julia Roberts and Lisa Roberts Gillan. She has two stepsiblings, Morgan and Keaton Simons, and a half sister, Grace Nickels.^[3] Roberts attended Archer School for Girls in Brentwood, California, from 2004–2005 for 7th and 8th grade.^{[citation needed]}

Acting career[link]

[edit] 2001–2005: Early career and Unfabulous

During her childhood, Roberts spent time on the sets of her aunt Julia Roberts's films. These experiences sparked a desire in Emma, from the age of five, to follow her father and aunts into the film industry.^[3] Although her mother initially wanted her to have a normal childhood, Roberts made her acting debut at age nine in Ted Demme's 2001 drama Blow. It was the first film for which she ever auditioned.^{[citation needed]} In the film, she portrayed Kristina Jung, the daughter of Johnny Depp's character, cocaine smuggler George Jung. In 2001, Roberts also had a role in Leif Tilden's 10-minute short bigLove, and was an uncredited extra in some scenes featuring her aunt Julia Roberts in America's Sweethearts.^[4]

She went on to appear in smaller roles in two family films, in 2002's Grand Champion, as the sister of the main character Buddy (Jacob Fisher); and in 2003's Spymate, as the kidnapped daughter of former secret agent Mike Muggins (Chris Potter), who tries to rescue her with the help of a spy monkey. Grand Champion had a brief theatrical release in August 2004,^[5] while Spymate was not released until February 2006, when it was given a theatrical run in Canada,^[6] followed by its DVD release in April 2006. In August 2003, Roberts was scheduled to shoot an independent film called Daisy Winters, starring as the title character, alongside Rachel Weisz.^[7] However, the film, which would have been Roberts's first leading role, never began shooting due to financial problems.^{[citation needed]} In 2004, Roberts became a teen idol at the age of 13,^{[citation needed]} starring as the lead character Addie Singer in the Nickelodeon series Unfabulous, which debuted in September 2004. Nickelodeon had wanted to cast her for the role from the beginning, and the teen sitcom earned Roberts a Teen Choice Award nomination and several Young Artist Award nominations.^{[citation needed]} The show aired for three seasons from 2004–2007 and aired 42 episodes; the third season ended on December 16, 2007.

The television series focused on Addie Singer (Roberts) a seventh grader whose life is "unfabulous" and she writes songs about her life. The television series had had various TV movies which include: The Perfect Moment which premiered on Nickelodeon on October 6, 2006. In 2004 Roberts guest-starred in an episode of the Nickelodeon series Drake and Josh, Roberts was in the episode "Honor Council". Because her character on Unfabulous writes songs and plays guitar, Nickelodeon soon considered a career in music for Roberts.^[8]

2006–2012: Theatrical films[link]

Roberts at the world premiere of Scream 4, April 11, 2011

In 2006, Roberts returned to the big screen, starring alongside Sara Paxton and singer JoJo in Aquamarine. Roberts won a 2007 Young Artist Award for Best Supporting Young Actress in a Feature Film for her role in the film.^[9] The film Aquamarine took No.5 place at the box office on its opening weekend making 8 million.^[10] In early 2006, Roberts finished shooting her title role in Nancy Drew. The film was released to theaters on June 15, 2007, and grossed over 7 million in its opening weekend,^[11] though the film was not well received by critics.^[12] In December 2007, Roberts began filming Hotel For Dogs. In 2008, Roberts had her voiceover debut when she voiced the English version of the character Wilma in the CGI-animated family film The Flight Before Christmas.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009, Roberts starred alongside Jake T. Austin in Hotel for Dogs,^[13] based on the novel by Lois Duncan. The film premiered on January 15, 2009, and was released to theaters on January 16, 2009, and took No.5 place in its opening weekend with over $17 million. The film has to-date grossed over $114 million, and received generally mixed reviews from critics.^[14] Roberts starred as the lead in the film Wild Child,^[15] about a rebellious teen from Malibu sent to a boarding school in England. Roberts described her character as "pretty much your typical spoiled-brat Malibu socialite who gets shipped off to British boarding school."^[16] Roberts also appeared in the indie film Lymelife with Alec Baldwin, which was premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. Roberts said that Lymelife is “kind of like American Beauty meets The Ice Storm”,^[16] and that her reasoning for doing the film was that, “Some people look at me and think, She’s just Julia Roberts’s niece. So I wanted to do something smaller and edgier, something that would show I really am an actress.”^[16]

Roberts co-starred as Grace in the hit 2010 film Valentine's Day with her aunt Julia Roberts. Roberts is set to reunite with Nancy Drew director Andrew Fleming on both Rodeo Gal^[17] and a Nancy Drew sequel,^[18] although the latter has been put on hold since 2007.^[19] She appeared in the sports comedy The Winning Season.^[20] In 2010, Roberts also appeared in Twelve and It's Kind of a Funny Story.^[21]

According to BloodyDisgusting.com Roberts will be starring in the horror film, Grimm, which follows the Quinn family that moves to Marburg, Massachusetts, a town that turns out to be haunted by the most horrific nightmares spawned by the imagination of the Brothers Grimm.^[22] She co-starred in the film adaptation of Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, as well as A Great Education. She also starred alongside with Freddie Highmore in 2011's romantic comedy The Art of Getting By.^[23][24] In May 2010, Roberts received the role of Jill Roberts in the Wes Craven film Scream 4.^[25] The film opened in theaters April 15, 2011.^[26] She also appeared on "Take Two With Phineas and Ferb"

In February 2012, Roberts began filming a new movie in Syracuse, NY called Adult World. The film also takes place in Syracuse and will co-star John Cusack. Roberts plays a recent college graduate who works at an adult bookstore to make ends meet.^[27] Roberts appears in a supporting role in Dustin Lance Black's Virginia, which will receive a limited theatrical release in May 2012 after a two and a half year delay.

Music career[link]

Roberts at the TIFF 08 Premiere of Lymelife.

In 2005, Roberts had a debut album Unfabulous and More. The album was released on September 27, 2005, through Columbia Records and Nick Records. It also served as the soundtrack to the television series, Unfabulous, in which Roberts stars. The album peaked at No.46 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart.^[28] In September 2005, two promotional singles were released from the album: "I Wanna Be" and "Dummy". The album includes several original songs (among them "Dummy" and "I Wanna Be", both of which were also released as music videos, "I Have Arrived" and "This Is Me", which was co-written by Roberts), as well as some of Addie's songs from the first season, including "Punch Rocker" and "New Shoes" (both from the episode "The Party"), "94 Weeks (Metal Mouth Freak)" (from "The Bar Mitzvah") and "Mexican Wrestler" (which had previously appeared on Jill Sobule's 2000 album Pink Pearl and in the episode "The 66th Day" from Unfabulous). During the same year, Roberts recorded "If I Had It My Way" for the soundtrack of the 2005 Disney film Ice Princess. In 2006, Roberts covered the song "Island in the Sun", which was originally recorded by Weezer in 2001; she recorded the song for the Aquamarine's soundtrack, a film where she starred as one of the leads.

Roberts said in a 2007 interview, "Right now I am focusing on movies, I am getting ready to start a new movie this summer so that is taking a lot of my time. I think when I am a little bit older it is definitely something I’d like to pursue."^[29] In another interview, she said, "My musical career is indefinitely on hold. I don’t like people who become like ‘actor slash singer.’ I think people should be one or the other because usually you’re not going to be great at both. You’re going to better at one, so you might as well stick to the one you’re good at. I’m going for acting."^[30]

Spokesmodel[link]

In February 2009, she was named the brand ambassador for Neutrogena, appearing in print and television ads for the company.^[31] Roberts has also appeared multiple times as part of Teen Vogue’s Best Dressed list, including June 2007, September 2008, December 2008 and February 2009.^[32]

Personal life[link]

Starting in the summer of 2011, Roberts had been in a relationship with Glee actor Chord Overstreet.^[33]

In September 2011, she began attending Sarah Lawrence College.^[34] However, in January 2012, Roberts's publicist announced that Roberts had chosen to "defer her college experience" due to work commitments.^[35]

Filmography[link]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• 2005: Unfabulous and More

Soundtrack appearances

• 2005: Unfabulous and More
• 2005: Ice Princess
• 2006: Aquamarine
• 2008: Wild Child

Other Released Singles

• 2005: Santa Claus Is Coming To Town^[36]

Awards[link]

References[link]