11 characteristics of a childish adult

Have you ever come across someone who is immature? Surely you can think of several characteristics of a childish adult. These people, far from having tastes or customs classified as “childish” (dressing up, playing games, watching animated films), They are easy to identify thanks to their selfish and immature acts.

The chronological age of a child-like adult does not correspond to his or her emotional age. This means that the aspects of personality related to conflict resolution and emotion management, which normally develop with maturational learning, are not sufficient to lead a full and satisfying life.

Along these lines you will find the most common traits in infantile adults, often masked until you are in close relationship with them.

What is a childish adult like?

The deficiencies of childhood adults are most easily evident in close interpersonal relationships, such as friendship, couples or family. Therefore, it will be easy for you to recognize the traits that follow, since we have all come across people like this.

1. Poor emotional control

We all have emotions, some more intensely than others. Emotional regulation is the exercise that allows you to keep them under control and not have a determining influence. when making certain decisions and relating to others.

A childlike adult lacks this emotional regulation. This way, you can find people whose anger, sadness, or pride escalates uncontrollably and pay attention to the effects they have on others.

2. External locus of control

We can attribute what happens around us to our actions, the actions of others or to chance. An adult, as a general rule, is quite skilled when it comes to distributing responsibilities for what happened. This is not the case with childish adults, who always blame others when the results are not as expected.

3. Lies

Childlike adults find valid coverage for their interests in lies. These are not white or specific lies, but these people They usually lie to hide their bad actions or to avoid assuming the consequences..

4. Insults

Childlike adults are also characterized by poor management of interpersonal conflicts. Within all that this implies, one of the most notable traits is the habit of insulting others when they argue instead of facing arguments.

5. Lack of impulse control

Impulsivity is another of the most striking characteristics of the infantile adult. In this context, it is not so much about making decisions without thinking, but rather about small details: speaking without taking into account how it will affect others, constantly interrupting, be very fluctuating in the orientation of their decisions, etc.

6. Need to attract attention

To these types of people They like to be the center of attention. This, in itself, would not be a problem if it were not for the fact that the methods are inadequate and ignore the needs and rights of those around them.

7. Abuse others

These types of people take advantage of any type of advantage they have over others to get what they want. Just as the big, strong boy knows that he can torment others without suffering physical consequences, The childish adult does not hesitate to abuse others when he knows he is going to get his way.

8. Narcissism

This characteristic of infantile adults is a direct consequence of the previous one. When a person takes what he wants from others without anyone correcting him or having consequences, will develop the idea that he is superior to others in his adult life. This facet is related to many other traits: explosions of anger, fragile self-esteem or insecurity, for example.

9. Contradictions

Since they are people with a poorly defined character, It is easy to find contradictions between their actions and their words or even between their own actions. One day they say one thing and another day they do the opposite, and it is also very difficult for them to recognize this ambivalence that so confuses those around them.

10. Poor self-observation capacity

Another characteristic of infantile adults is the difficulty evaluating the effect they have on others, since they have not been forced to do so in their maturation period.

An example of this is that they are not able to recognize that an explosion of anger has made their partner cry because it was exaggerated: they claim that the blame for their anger lies with them and the logical thing is to get angry when someone does not behave as one wants.

11. Low frustration tolerance

Adults know that sometimes adverse and unforeseen circumstances appear that cause poor results despite the effort put into the task. Someone who is immature, on the other hand, quickly becomes frustrated and abandons their goals as soon as the slightest setback appears.

We all have some aspect to work on in our personality, since there is no one who provides the perfect emotional maturation profile. However, the people you have seen described here are characterized by having many of these traits or taking them to the limit.hindering their ability to function in daily life and their ability to have healthy interpersonal relationships.

However, it is never too late to improve. Going to a professional therapist and working on the aspects of your personality that prevent you from having a full life will not only help you, but also everyone around you. Therefore, if you feel that you have deficiencies in your relationships or live with someone like that, do not hesitate to seek therapeutic help.

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