Men Growing Less Mature, European Men Even Less

Recent personality testing of men and women (PDF) in various countries appear to indicate that men in developed countries are becoming less mature--as mature behaviour grows less to be expected and demanded by society. Among developed nations, the process of lowered male maturity appears to be further advanced in Europe than other advanced nations.

...it may be that cultures in which people have longer life spans and which are more affluent put fewer expectations for men to grow up quickly. These cultures can afford to indulge less mature behavior for a longer period of time because the onset of adult roles is delayed. In contrast, women have more complex life paths to negotiate. They typically think more seriously about multiple roles at earlier ages, for example. Thus, despite the cultural trends toward equality in occupational opportunities, women may still have higher expectations for assuming the responsibilities of adulthood at earlier ages than men regardless of culture.

....Dr. Schmitt also noted that, among men in the richer countries, American men are something of an outlier because they score higher in conscientiousness than men in most European countries even though per-capita income is higher in the United States. Still, the Americans don’t appear as conscientious as men in places like Botswana or Ethiopia.

Could it be that young men in rich countries are slower to mature and therefore relatively less conscientious than young men in traditional countries? Might European men be less mature than American men? _Tierney

There is a reason why many boys in affluent societies never truly become men. Because they don't have to. If they are never forced into self-discipline or responsibility, why should they make the effort? Military service is often a "rite of passage" separating boyhood from manhood, youthful fecklessness from more manly competence and responsibility. Employers are beginning to note the differences in ambition, maturity, and "stick to-it-iveness" between males who have passed through such a rite, and those who have not.

Psychological neoteny is not just a river in Egypt. Wait, er--never mind. Anyway, if you raise children in age-cohorts, separate from the adult world of responsibility, pamper them, let children essentially raise each other--you will reap a harvest of perpetually adolescent incompetent narcissists, as often as not. Which is why we see large numbers of such lost souls--unable to read, reason, communicate, or take responsibility for themselves.