An index consisting of tropes specifically related to adults/grown-ups. Adulthood is the stage preceding seniority and following adolescence, at which point people are leaving college and the nest as they start settling in their own homes, paying their own bills, and attaining full-time employment.
Contrast Youngsters and Teenage Tropes. Compare Maturity Tropes and Aging Tropes. Will eventually follow into Elders.
See also Occupation Tropes and The Parent Trope, both of which mostly apply to adults (though not always).
For the more explicit meaning of "adult", see Sex Tropes. Maturity Tropes covers the behavioral definition of "adult".
Tropes:
Sub-index:
- Adult Hater: A character who hates adults.
- Adults Are More Anthropomorphic: The older a fictional animal gets, the more anthropomorphic traits they possess.
- Adults Are Useless: Adults are portrayed as idiotic, spiteful, and unhelpful to the youth.
- Adults Dressed as Children: Adults dress up as children.
- Always a Child to Parent: An adult who is still treated like a child by their parents.
- Basement-Dweller: A grown man who still lives with his parents.
- Born as an Adult: A character was born in an adult body.
- Coming of Age Story: A main character matures into adulthood.
- Dawson Casting: Adult actors, not just in their 20s but into their 30s as well, portray high schoolers on TV and in movies.
- Double Standard: Violence, Child on Adult: Children physically hurting adults is portrayed as funny. The roles reversed is downright evil.
- Fun-Hating Confiscating Adult: A stern adult who takes away children's fun out of sadism.
- Gigantic Adults, Tiny Babies: Creatures are tiny when they're young, but giant when they're adults.
- Immortality Begins at Twenty: Immortal beings in fiction tend to stop aging right when they become young adults.
- Invisible to Adults: Children can see things that adults can't.
- Kids Versus Adults: The children and adult characters face a rivalry.
- Late Coming Out: A character comes out of the closet later in life.
- Manchild: An adult character who behaves like a child.
- Milestone Birthday Angst: A (usually adult) dreads turning a certain age because of the connotations of being in that age range.
- Most Writers Are Adults: Kids in fiction behave a lot like adults as a result of the show's writers being them.
- Never Grew Up: Physical maturity does not prevent emotional immaturity.
- Office Lady: A stereotypical low-level female office employee.
- One of the Kids: An adult character hangs out with children to signify their immaturity.
- Only Fatal to Adults: Something that only kills adults.
- Psychopathic Manchild: A completely unstable adult character who possesses childish traits that make them slightly endearing.
- Salaryman: Stereotypical low-income Japanese office worker.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: The character to solve kids' problems is almost always an adult.
- Separated from the Adults: A child becomes isolated from adult protection and as a result ventures on their own.
- She Is All Grown Up: Puberty did a woman well.
- Short Teens, Tall Adults: In Hollywood, shorter means younger.
- There Are No Adults: Adult characters don't seem to be present in a work.
- Token Adult: The only adult member of a group of children or teenagers.
