When are you an adult?

It’s a simple question with a lot of fuzziness to its definition.

Legally, a person is considered an adult at 18.

Or when they hit the legal drinking age of 21.

But new research from Oxford suggests adulthood begins at age 30.

The researchers say the brain  undergoes numerous changes in the first three decades of life before “settling down.”

Adolescence, according to the researchers, actually runs from 10 to 24 years of age.

“Rather than age 10–19 years, a definition of 10–24 years corresponds more closely to adolescent growth and popular understandings of this life phase,” they write.

But they also caution that some people mentally move into adulthood sooner, others later.

And the move from adolescence into adulthood is a gradual transition, not a sudden change based on someone’s age.

You can read the full study here.