Adultification

Adultification, in psychology and sociology, refers to the treatment of some children by adults as more mature than they actually are, such as expecting them to take on age-inappropriate adult roles and responsibilities, or holding them to be as culpable as adults for wrongdoing. In the United States it is often discussed as a form of racial bias, in which Black American children are assumed to be more culpable, and are punished more harshly, than White American children for the same offenses. Studies have found that Black children are more likely to receive discipline from authority figures such as police officers and teachers, and that their intentions are more often overlooked or misrepresented in healthcare settings, contributing to medical mistrust within the Black community; scholars at the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality have traced adultification bias to roots in slavery and longstanding stereotypes of African Americans. The bias can also affect the language used to describe children or adolescents of minority groups in media coverage, and has been linked to the school-to-prison pipeline.