Search

Life course theorists have argued that the timing and sequencing of major life events have consequences for individuals. Analyzing data from a 15-year follow-up study of high school students originally surveyed in 1957-1958 and resurveyed in 1973-1974, we examine the effects of the timing and sequencing of role changes during the transition to adulthood on adult socioeconomic attainment. Our findings provide no support for the general hypothesis that individuals who experience events early or late relative to their peers or individuals who experience associations between the timing and sequencing of particular role changes and adult socioeconomic attainment. Although most effects of the timing and sequencing of role changes are mediated via educational attainment, variation in the process of leaving school and entering the labor force bears an independent relationship to male earnings. Entry into adult family roles and the timing of initiation of the process of entry into those roles also bears an independent relationship to the earnings of both sexes but in opposite directions.

Jeffrey Jensen Arnett's essay examined various conceptions on the transition to adulthood using ethnographic, historical and sociological data. He emphasized the individualistic traits which characterize perceptions on adulthood which include self-responsibility, making independent decisions and becoming financially independent. However, the meaning of these character traits is not yet established adequately. Thus, there is a need for a detailed study of the labeling and behavioral definition of the valued characteristics of the stages of development identified by individuals.

Conceptions of the transition to adulthood in the contemporary American majority culture are examined, and compared to conceptions cross-culturally and historically. Perspectives from other places and times are presented first, indicating that there is a widespread view that the transition to adulthood involves the gradual development of character qualities such as impulse control and diligence but culminates in marriage as the ultimate marker of the transition to adulthood. Findings from several recent American studies are then presented, indicating that for contemporary young Americans the preeminent criteria for the transition to adulthood are the individualistic character qualities of accepting responsibility for one's self and making independent decisions, along with becoming financially independent; marriage, in contrast, ranks very low. New data are presented to illustrate young Americans' conceptions of the transition to adulthood. Reasons are discussed for the prominence of individualistic criteria in American society and the prominence of marriage in other places and times. The concept of emerging adulthood is presented as a new way of conceptualizing the period between adolescence and young adulthood. Key Words: Individualism * Late adolescence * Transition to adulthood