Peter Pan Syndrome

Peter Pan syndrome is a pop psychology term for an adult who is socially immature, describing a never-growing person who has reached adult age but has not come to terms with adult responsibilities and experiences. The term is a metaphor built on the idea of refusing to leave childhood behind, and a person it describes typically shows behavior patterns associated with immaturity and a reluctance to take on the responsibilities of adulthood, which can cause real difficulty in their social and professional relationships. The term has circulated informally among both non-experts and some psychology professionals since the psychologist Dan Kiley's 1983 book The Peter Pan Syndrome: Men Who Have Never Grown Up, though it was historically associated mainly with men; it is not recognized by the World Health Organization and does not appear in the DSM-5.