We can fully expect the risk-taking adolescent to become the young, probably mating adult. Other determinants of the stage-driven prediction have less, but countable influence. Socioeconomic status of the parents strongly influence the educational potential of the youth, but do not determine it. Social surroundings influence the criminal potential of the young adult, but do not determine it. While the rate and details of growth may be indeterminate, the sequence must certainly have a predictable pattern.
National cultures exhibit signs of varying stages of maturity.
We see this in their tolerance of innovation and creative risk versus slavish adherence to the tried and true. As though locked in endless memory rehearsals, our own baby boom marketing group faces the debilitation of continuously reliving the past, rather than creating the present. No wonder aggressive corporations lay off older workers. Even worse, it may be of great concern to some parents in the U.S. that their children actually like and listen to music that was recorded and popular 30 years previous. These fears aside, we can imagine an alternative scenario in which a national culture benefits from its maturing work force.