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Adulthood is something that everyone experiences at different points in their life. I think how a person learns to handle responsibilities is a big key in beginning adulthood.

For me, I think adulthood started when I began looking at a career path and started going to college. It is a lot of responsibility to make a decision that will impact your life, especially since it impacts your finances later on.
I also think adulthood begins when you learn what it means to fall in love (even if it's not finding "the one"). You are becoming more mature and intimate at that point, which is a trait of adulthood.
Responsibility of another life, whether with a pet or child (or both). Moving out and living on your own..
The list goes on, but I think adulthood is defined by how a person handles their life situations.

Oh wow, there's so many ways I could answer this... There's so many ways one becomes an adult! But, assuming I am an adult now, I think I know how to came about.

I became an adult when I assumed my own financial responsibility. Meaning, saving MONEY! My first paycheck, I believe, is when I really felt it. The reality of real work turning into money that I would then have to use for bigger things, like my cell phone bill or my college savings account. I even paid my school lunches for a while. The responsibility of money is what being an adult is about, and I think most would agree with you. I can tell you I'm certainly not looking forward to electric bills or mortgage payments.

I'm 22...and still waiting to grow up. I'm in no rush, I'll be an adult when I am who I want to be. Every day I get closer to knowing what I want out of my life, but I'm still fairly clueless and that's okay. I'm waiting to get some perspective on the world, I want to travel and learn as much as I can about everything that catches my interest. To me, that's the only way to shape myself into someone I can be proud of.

Interesting topic! I have thought about this before and realized being an adult does not just come over night. Legally, I became an adult when I was 18. But it is still hard for me to to distinguish when I really was an adult, or if I even am an adult right now. I believe it is a culmination of different experiences that turns an adolescent into an adult. Some of those experiences include but are not limited to:

-Moving out of your parents house.
-Losing your virginity
-Getting your first job
-Buying your own groceries
-Paying your taxes for the first time
-Creating your resume

But I think this quote by C.S. Lewis describes it the best:
“Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”

As soon as my dad got sick and I had to help take care of my siblings. This was around 14 years old. Because of this I didn't really have to adjust to moving out of the house and "growing" up. I was alrady pretty independent. I think all of my siblings were also forced to grow up too.

I'm slowly learning that just because you turn 18 it doesnt make you an adult.

I must say that my mom gave me a lot of independence growing up as a child and I was pretty mature for a youngin'. I believe I really developed an adult-like mentality when I was in the 9th grade. I was really independent then, and I didn't shy away from responsibilities. I found myself through my time alone, and I had planned out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
I feel as though I've really hit adulthood once I began college and started making important decisions. I have never had any problems with doing things on my own and I've always had at least 1 job. It's the true freedom of independence that I needed in order to really recognize that I was an adult.

I honestly still don't feel like an adult, because I measure being an "adult" with certain accomplishments. Even though I have finished my bachelor degree, worked and lived in Europe, moving onto medical school in the near future and am mentally mature I don't feel like an "adult".

I define adult with certain responsibilities;

1. Living on your own and paying your own rent/ utility bills (still live with my parents in order to have enough to pay for school

2. Paying for your own car (still have the car I was given by my grandparents when I was 17... but am looking into getting a new one finally YAY!)

3. Being married (doesn't look like that will happen for at least another several years)

4. Having children (hell no, too much responsibility! Considering I am looking at another 4 years for my doctorate and 4 more years of residency, children are the last thing on my mind)

What a great topic! Adulthood is defined in so many different ways. I feel like the government eases us into it. They say were adults at 18 but we aren’t adult enough to buy alcohol until we’re 21. And then again we aren’t adult enough to be claimed independent on FAFSA until we’re 23. We cant rent a car or Uhaul until we’re 25.
I feel like it’s the same with adulthood. It’s something that we gradually grow into. From our first job to paying our own bills to deciding whom we want to spend the rest of our life with.
For me personally I feel like my adulthood hit right after high school. My family went through some hardships and we became homeless for a while. I got a job and had to start paying my own bills and making very adult decisions very quickly. But then we found a place to love and I was still with my family until I was 20 when I moved away to college. I had already entered adulthood but then at college and even know as I continue my college education I began to individuate more and discover who I was on my own.
So I feel like adulthood is a growing process. But If I had to pick one individual moment when I felt the weight and responsibility of adulthood, I’d choose when I had to get that job and live out of my car.

I was actually asked a question like this today in the Kindergarten class that I volunteer in. One of the little girls came up and asked me if I was an adult or a kid. For the first time, I actually had to stop and think about my answer. I am 20 years old and to be honest, I still do not really see myself as an adult yet.

I think adulthood is defined differently by everyone. Many people said that moving out is when they felt like they were an adult. I moved away to go to school but I still enjoy going home every once in a while to see my family. I like coming home and having no responsibilities and having dinner cooked for me. I am not completely ready to be an adult yet.

I am not in a hurry to grow up. I think kids spend so much time looking forward to becoming an adult because they think of all the freedom that comes with it. I have spent the last few years trying to not rush growing up. I still enjoy things I did as a kid. I still get excited about Easter egg hunts, cartoons and Disneyland. I have forever to be an adult. I'm in no hurry :)

Adulthood began for me at the age of 21. Not because of my age, but because I happened to move out of my parents' home at that age. I had a roommate, but I still had to pay my share of the rent, buy my own food, pay bills, cook, clean, get up on time for work on my own, etc.

When Mommy & Daddy stop doing the basics for you, you can truly consider yourself an adult. JMO

I think everyone here has hit some pretty good points....

I feel like I got my first taste of adulthood when I moved out at 18. I found a place to live on my own and paid all of my own bills.

Although you move out and live on your own though, there are still so many other aspects of being an adult that that doesn't really encompass...

being in a mature relationship
new life experiences
how do you face problems
figuring out the balance between responsibilities and fun

....I still don't feel like I'm completely an adult yet....and I don't think I will unless I have a child that I have to care for.

I feel like adulthood hasn't begun for me yet. Of course, I am legally an adult, and I do have responsibilities, but I still rely on my parents for things and live at home and am still in high school.

I feel like once I'm done with my first year of college I will be closer than not to being an adult. I know going away to college will grow you up and make a person responsible and independent.