The only reason 18 year olds would ever act like children is if they were infantilized. This is something we do in the USA now, and it is a bizarre anomaly in world history.

We raised them to believe they'll be immature idiots at 18, and Voilá! Self-fulfilling prophecy! They are.

It doesn't have to be this way. It shouldn't be this way. They are killing themselves at alarming rates. There is a massive mental health crisis among them, precisely because we keep treating them like shit, calling them children, and telling them they're retards.