Demographic perspectives on the transition to adulthood: An introduction

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Introduction

When life-course studies of the period during which men and women make the transition from youth to adulthood emerged in the 1980s, these studies shared a strong focus on the timing of major life events (Featherman et al., 1984, Goldscheider and Waite, 1986, Hogan, 1981, Marini, 1985). Within the demographic domain, events like leaving the parental home, entry into marriage and entry into parenthood were studied, whereas in the occupational domain events like the exit from the educational system and entry into first employment were examined. The period in which many men and women experienced most of these events – roughly between the ages of 15 and 30 – was designated as young adulthood.1 A number of studies explicitly linked the actual timing of these events to societal norms thought to influence individuals’ decisions about the timing and sequencing of these events (Marini, 1984, Modell, 1980, Neugarten et al., 1965). Thus, these events were interpreted as being important markers of the transition to adulthood.

This focus on demographic and occupational markers as the key elements of what defines the transition to adulthood was challenged at the beginning of the new century, in particular by Jeffrey Arnett and other psychologists working in the same tradition (e.g. Arnett, 1998, Arnett, 2000a). Based on studies in which young people were asked what constituted being ‘an adult’, Arnett concluded that subjective feelings that represent individualism were much more important for being considered an adult than having experienced actual events that were hitherto thought to constitute the markers of adulthood. This – and the fact that the timing and sequencing of events during this life phase became more diversified and reversible – led Arnett to define this life phase as emerging adulthood.

Given this newly proposed view on the transition to adulthood, the reader may wonder why a special issue of Advances in Life Course Research is dedicated to a demographic perspective on the transition to adulthood. In our view, there are at least two compelling reasons to do so. First, the current conceptualization of the transition to adulthood as mainly a subjective process in which young men and women gradually gain autonomy and responsibility, is at best one-sided. It is our contention that traditional markers – and ‘new’ markers like unmarried cohabitation – still constitute very important events in young people's life course that significantly influence their future life chances and outcomes. Second, the field of major demographic events during the transition to adulthood itself offers so many substantive and methodological challenges that it is worthwhile to examine at least a number of them.

In the remainder of this introductory article, we have three aims. First, we will try to substantiate our claim that studying demographic markers in young adulthood is still an important goal for life course studies. Second, we will discuss some of the substantive and methodological challenges that research in this area is facing. And third, we will discuss the contribution of the substantive articles in this special issue to these challenges.

Section snippets

Mapping the transition to adulthood

In a series of articles published around the turn of the century, Arnett, 1997, Arnett, 1998, Arnett, 2000a, Arnett, 2000b, Arnett, 2001 pursues the argument that the ‘traditional’ markers of the transition to adulthood like leaving home, marriage and parenthood no longer hold the significance for this period of life that they once had. One reason for this reduced importance is that the occurrence and timing of these events has changed dramatically in US society (Arnett, 2000b). Most of these

Methodological challenges

Most studies on demographic markers in young adulthood focus on specific events, such as leaving the parental home, entry into a union, entry into marriage, or entry into parenthood, and examine either precursors of experiencing these events or their consequences. In the last decade, an increasing number of studies have advocated or applied a more holistic approach to the transition to adulthood (e.g. Aassve et al., 2007, Elzinga and Liefbroer, 2007, Martin et al., 2008, Mouw, 2005). Such an

Substantive challenges

The occurrence, timing, and order of demographic events during young adulthood has changed significantly during the last half-century. The increasing variation in life-course patterns has been described as ‘individualisation’, ‘destandardization’ and ‘deinstituationalization’, and as a shift from a ‘standard biography’ to a ‘choice biography’ (Buchmann, 1989, Du-Bois Reymond and Chrisholm, 2006). In a world in which choices can have far-reaching consequences and where each choice is surrounded

This volume

In 2002, the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population created the Panel on Transitions to Adulthood in Developed Countries, and a number of seminars were organized (e.g. Gauthier, 2007). This special issue of Advances in Life Course Research includes a selection of articles that were originally presented at the seminar organized by this panel on ‘Early Adulthood in Time and Space: Multidimensional and Multilevel Perspectives’, hosted by the Institut National d’Études

Conclusion

During the last decade, the centrality of demographic markers in young adulthood has been challenged, in particular by psychological approaches that emphasize that young adults themselves feel that individual markers, like showing specific competences or behaviours – such as abstaining from drugs – are much more important in defining whether one has achieved adult status. In this introduction, we have argued that such a view may be misleading. Young adults may feel that experiencing these

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