According to Science, Men Mature Later Than Women
chaitra krishnanMA (Journalism & Mass Communication) Experience: 5 yearsChaitra has a triple main bachelor’s degree in journalism, communicative English, and economics from St. Aloysius College, Mangalore, and a master’s degree in journalism and mass communication from St... more
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If you take a nostalgic tour through your high school yearbooks you’d know that girls mature way before boys in terms of physical development. Most girls look far more matured and adult-like by the time they’re in your 7th grade, while the boys still look like a bunch of kids. However, a year or two later, the same boys look taller and have facial hair. However, men are late not only in terms of physical development. Most women would agree if we said, “men mature later than women.” While there are men who are more matured than women of the same age, these are just exceptions. If you consider a broader scenario, women who have been in relationships with men of their same age would find the “maturity” factor as the most annoying one.
Now, this may put extra pressure on the woman because she is the one that deals with most problems related to the relationship. She is the one who plans and executes things while her man isn’t as involved. You may feel that we’re just bluffing but there’s actual scientific evidence that proves that men mature later than women. Interested to know more? Read on.
More About The Study
The study was conducted by the University of Oxford and is aimed at distinguishing the features of the brain that change when a person attains maturity from the ones that don’t. They also evaluated the results based on the age and gender of the participants. 121 subjects, who were between the age of 4 and 40, participated in this study. Interestingly, it was found that there was a loss of certain fiber tracts during the course of maturation and it happened relatively more in the female participants (1).
Now you can imagine why women start behaving more matured than men right from their puberty. Also, if you think about it, women are the ones who keep worrying about the future and the consequences of their actions more than men. Of course, men do it too, but these realizations hit them later than women. This is probably why young women often get attracted to older men. Because, they feel that men of their age aren’t matured enough to match their level of maturity and that they aren’t serious about life. Many women can feel this gap when they are in a relationship. But with time, this gap gets filled and both men and women reach the same level of maturity. Until then, it’s obvious that the woman in the relationship will be the one who plans most of the important events.
It’s not just about the early maturity, women can pat themselves because they scientifically have “better brains.” Even if men have brains that are larger than that of women, women’s brains are more efficient. This efficiency has been compared by many studies in the past and it is still a subject of wonder for the researchers. Also, studies that compare the brains of men and women are crucial to understanding how brain-related diseases and disorders like Alzheimer’s affect them. Female brains are found to be more active when compared to male brains, especially in the prefrontal cortex area. This is the part of the brain that is associated with focus and impulse control. Female brains are also more active than male brains in the limbic region, which is the emotional area of the brain. This is the region that is responsible for anxiety and mood fluctuations (2).
Grey Matter Matters
Women have more grey matter in their brains when compared to men. The grey matter is vital because it contains cells that process the information in our brain and are located in areas that are associated with sensory perception and muscle control. Ironically, men use the grey matter more than women and women use something called the “white matter” more. The white matter connects the brain’s processing centers. This explains why men are good at task-focused projects while women perform better in language and multitasking (3).
If you have any doubts, just think about the kind of multitasking a mother does. She takes care of herself, her career, her partner, the kids, her parents, and the entire household. Also, women are better planners. If you are a woman, you can plan a trip much better than your boyfriend/ husband, because you tend to think about different things at the same time. This allows you to have a 360 degree perspective of every issue, which is quite hard for men to have.
Haven’t you ever wondered why men keep asking women to “stop thinking too much”? This is because they cannot reach the level of thinking and processing of information that you can.
So, the next time a guy says he’s smarter than you, you’ll have Science to your rescue. It’s just that their brains aren’t capable of multitasking *facepalm.*
What do you think about this interesting brain fact? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
