You Start Turning Into Your Mother At Age 33, According To Science
Watch out: you start becoming your mom in your early 30s – and yep, it’s probably going to happen to your partner, too
Okay, we don’t know quite how to tell you this, but: you might not have much more time left. Or it might have even started already. Despite all of your efforts, all of your teenage rebellions, and all of your cognitive behavioral therapy sessions, you’re probably going to start becoming more and more like your mom.
Yep, even you. It’s officially science.
According to a new study out of the United Kingdom, by Dr. Julian De Silva, we all somewhat morph into the image of our parents, and it might happen much sooner than we thought.
De Silva surveyed over 2,000 people about when they began to feel and act more like their parents – from starting to consume the same media, to liking the same things, to using the same sayings that you rolled your eyes at as a kid. He found that just over half (52 percent) started acting like their moms between 30 and 35 years old, while 26 percent started the trend at 35 to 40 years old, and 10 percent stating that they somehow made it until 40 to 50.
Why does the transition begin in your early 30s? De Silva believes that it has a lot to do with becoming a parent: when you start raising your own kids, your behaviors start to reflect how you were raised. It’s probably no coincidence that the average age of becoming a mom is 30 years old – just around the time you start yelling at people to wipe their feet when they come in the house and quipping, because I said so.
At the same time, you start to act like your mom when you start to look more like your mom when you first knew your mom – which is most commonly when she was in her early 30s. We start to gain a few pounds, get a few wrinkles, and suddenly, we start to see more resemblances to our moms. So, we guess, why not start wearing those weird holiday-themed sweaters she always wears, too?
“It is an inevitable part of aging but a process lots of people want to put off for as long as possible,” De Silva explained. “It is one of the reasons why the average age of first-time cosmetic surgery is coming down for both sexes.”
If you’re looking for some consolation, and we certainly are, the study also found that men start turning into their dads around age 34 – just around the time that males become fathers for the first time. Maybe that’s why they’re suddenly attached to a recliner and start yelling at the television, who knows?
And don’t worry: this isn’t a finding that dooms you to become just like your parent, no matter what (especially if maybe your mom struggled with trauma or addiction or mental illness, or was just a jerk). It’s just a study that says you might notice that your appearance or some of your behaviors begin to echo theirs once you start raising your own family, or once you start to see them a little more in your own reflection. You’re still you, although maybe you’d look pretty snazzy in an Easter-themed sweater. Just saying.
