Adultism is "the energy adults take over children". More narrowly, adultism is defined as "prejudice as well as accompanying systematic discrimination against young people". On a more philosophical basis, a term has also been defined as "bias towards adults... and the social addiction to adults, including their ideas, activities, and attitudes".
A 2006/2007 survey conducted by the Children's Rights Alliance for England and the National Children's Bureau asked 4,060 children and young people whether they realize ever been treated unfairly based on various criteria race, age, sex, sexual orientation, etc.. A sum of 43% of British youth surveyed presentation experiencing discrimination based on their age, substantially more than other categories of discrimination like sex 27%, types 11%, or sexual orientation 6%.