Has the childhood of the modern youth ended? Tracks of empirical analysis

The article raises the issue of analytical tracks for the study of growing up based on a subjective assessment of the age at the end of childhood. The tracks used to analyze the end of childhood include age, gender, and territory of residence, as well as the specifics of growing up in a comparative perspective between 2018 and 2023. Respondents – young people aged 17–23, mainly 18-year-old students (N = 774 in 2018 and N = 1210 in 2023) – noted the debut age of the onset of specific events in their lives. The online questionnaire method was used, with a non-random, streaming sample. The productivity of using empirical analysis tracks in the context of the discussed issues is demonstrated. The tracks of analysis by age and the specifics of growing up from a gender perspective have proven their effectiveness, as they most clearly reflect the paradoxical nature of both shortened and extended growing up. The track of analysis within groups with early, normative, and late adulthood depending on gender, and the track of analysis by gender depending on respondents’ orientation toward early, normative, and late adulthood, most convincingly confirm the idea of both prolonged and shortened adulthood, particularly in relation to boys. The data obtained actualize the issue of identifying medium-term trends in growing up during childhood.