Before proving the syndrome’s existence with the celebrity comparison, there are a few subjects that first need to be addressed. To start with, it’s a good idea to take a quick look at the aging process, specifically the way the facial structure changes as a child becomes an adult. An adult’s face isn’t just bigger than an infant’s, it’s also very different structurally. Throughout the entire growth process from infancy right up until full adulthood the face is continually evolving and transforming in a number of different ways.

Here is a rundown of the various changes to the facial structure that take place during the transition from infant to adult.

1. The cranium expands.
2. The face shape becomes more oval and less round.
3. The face shape broadens and lengthens, especially the lower half.
4. The jaw becomes larger and more squared/angled.
5. The amount of “baby fat” throughout the face reduces, resulting in more distinctive
   features.
6. The cheekbones take on more prominence.
7. The chin becomes more clearly defined.
8. The eyes narrow.
9. The eyes appear less “wide open”.
10. The nose lengthens.
11. The bridge of the nose rises.
12. The mouth widens.
13. (In males) More prominent brow ridges develop, resulting in deep set appearing eyes.

These many structural changes cause the face to take on a very different appearance from that of early childhood. That’s why a person who is shown randomly mixed headshots of 8 year old boys and clean shaven 38 year old men would have no trouble telling apart one from the other, even if the photos were done so that all of the faces were the exact same size. The human eye is very good at instinctively, unconsciously recognizing these differences, and separating the men from the boys and the women from the girls.

At least, it is when it doesn’t have to contend with distractions, which is another subject that needs going over before the celebrity comparison. When factors other than the simple appearance of the face are brought into the equation, factors such as clothes, hair, whether the person is sitting behind the reception desk in a doctor’s office, etc, some people seem to get confused. A huge part of the reason that the child for life syndrome has done such a good job of avoiding detection undoubtedly is that people can find telling the difference between a child and an adult more difficult when the child has taken on adult roles and traits. Physically immature or not, when people get to be a certain age they usually begin to live adult-type lives, which, to some, automatically makes them seem like adults. Adult-type superficialities drawing attention away from child-like faces. A common reaction for those watching 28 year old child actress Reese Witherspoon in the movie “Walk the Line” probably went something like - “she’s dating Johnny Cash and she’s a mother of three. Therefore, she has to be a woman.” The underdevelopment of her face going undetected as the instinctive ability to separate the women from the girls is rendered inactive by irrelevant and often deceptive characteristics. Those without a sharp enough eye will see a sheep wearing a saddle and call it a horse. This kind of thing probably happens to many people several times a day, tricked by this smoke and mirrors type illusion at work, at the doctor’s office, and while flipping through the channels on TV. Underneath these grown-up roles, however, often are faces that would look much more appropriate in the halls of a high school. The 27 year old behind the counter at the DMV is in all likelihood just a child, with the facial structure to prove it.

Though deceptive grown-up roles isn’t the only factor distracting people from noticing the syndrome. Also confusing the ability of many to separate the adult from the child is the fact that a lot of today’s young people seem to have grown-up bodies. But having an adult body alone by no means qualifies a person as an adult.

The most obvious way to judge the physical maturity of the body is by measuring height, and a person’s height has very little, if anything at all, to do with whether or not they should be considered an adult. Many 13 year old boys in grade 8 are 6 feet tall, and they very clearly don’t look like adults - they just look like really tall kids. If a 13 year old boy who’s 6 feet tall walks into a bar, guess what happens to him? He gets asked for his ID. Included in the celebrity comparison is the height of every actor and actress and almost all of the musicians. The data shows that the males born before 1975 are taller than the ones born in 1975 or later, but only by an extremely small and insignificant amount, while the females from the older group are significantly taller than their younger counterparts. The height data also proves the complete lack of a connection between a person’s height and whether or not they are physically mature enough to qualify as an adult. Two perfect examples of this - one male, one female - are found comparing 6’3” Ashton Kutcher with 5’7” Tom Cruise, and 5’8” Katie Holmes with 5’1” Patricia Arquette. As of Oct 1, 2006 Ashton Kutcher was 28 and Katie Holmes was 27, and at that time both still looked like they were in their late teens - neither one had reached an adult level of physical maturity. On the other hand, Tom Cruise was just 26 in “Born on the Fourth of July” and Patricia Arquette was just 24 in “True Romance”, and in those movies both were without question fully grown adults. The 8” and 7” height differences don’t seem to have had even the slightest affect on the appearance of physical maturity.

The other obvious way of judging the physical maturity of the body is by looking at the body’s shape. Certain physical characteristics either begin to develop or increase their level of development in the latter part of the body’s maturation process, and some of these changes cause the body to take on a different shape from that of early childhood. In males the most blatantly visible quality which defines maturity of the body is the width of the shoulders, and in females it’s the curves - the hips and the breasts. And just like in the case of height these qualities, even when extremely well developed, have almost nothing to do with whether or not a person looks like an adult. It’s not uncommon for 14 year old boys to have very broad shoulders, and although this makes them look more well developed physically than many of their peers, it doesn’t cause them to be mistaken for 36 year old men. That they are children is still very apparent. The same thing is true of young girls with curves. Many 14 year old girls have full hips and big breasts, more well developed in these areas than 90% of adult women, and although this causes them to look a little older than they really are, maybe as old as 16 or 17, it’s still clear with just a glance that they’re not yet adults. The reverse is also true. Adult men with extremely narrow shoulders and adult women with narrow hips and small breasts don’t look 13 years old, they instead look like fully grown adult men and women with poorly developed bodies.

Other changes also take place in the latter part of the body’s maturation process, but these less obvious qualities have just as little relevance in terms of the appearance of full adulthood.

A person whose body is fully matured, but whose face isn’t, looks like a child. A person whose face is fully matured, but whose body isn’t, looks like an adult. The body, regardless of how tall or how well developed, does not play a role in the appearance of full adulthood. This therefore means that the sole indicator of full adulthood has to be the face.

A tall and well developed body can, however, especially under the right set of circumstances, work well to distract some people from noticing the syndrome. Everyone easily recognizes that the 14 year olds with the grown up bodies are still just kids, but when the faces look slightly older the job becomes a bit more difficult. Add to the equation the “grown-up roles” factor and the job becomes more difficult still. When a 28 year old male is 6 feet tall, works a “grown-up job”, and is married, the fact that he has the face of a 17 year old boy may go unnoticed by the less observant.

A grown-up looking body can make noticing the underdevelopment of an individual more difficult, but where the grown-up bodies factor really has an affect is in hiding the pattern of underdevelopment - hiding the child for life syndrome. If 95% of 28 year old males were 4’10” or shorter everyone would realize that something very weird was going on, but 95% of 28 year old males with 17 year old faces is a problem somewhat more subtle and less demanding of attention. Even for those that have no difficulty at all recognizing a juvenile face, regardless of whether or not it’s sitting on top of a fully grown body, it still might take some time to recognize the pattern of underdevelopment when the bodies of quite a few young people are a well developed size and shape.

I think that probably played a role in keeping the pattern so well hidden from me for so long. I saw the problem in the individuals, but the pattern, or at least the scope of the pattern, took a while to click. The syndrome obscured by the occasional 6’3” male and the occasional curvy female. Qualities which, in reality, are almost as irrelevant as clothes and jobs when it comes to signifying full adulthood.