We purchased this for our 11 year old.  We wanted something that looked nice that would look mature enough for him into his teenage years.  This arrived as expected and was easy to assemble.  It looks really nice.  We did not need a box spring for it, but I will probably purchase a low profile box spring so that his bed is not so low to the ground.  However, that is a personal preference.  The memory foam mattress that we purchased to go with this would be fine without a box spring.