Antecedents and Consequences of Transitional Pathways to Adulthood Among University Students: 18-Year Longitudinal Study

Abstract

This study combined sociological life-course modeling on education-, employment-, residency-, and partnership/parenthood-related transitions with a psychological life-span approach to achievement and social strategies by examining the extent to which achievement and social strategies, and depressive symptoms contribute to pathways to adulthood among 182 first-year Finnish university students who were followed for 18 years. The Life History Calendar was used to collect data on individual life histories. The participants followed six pathways to adulthood that differed with respect to postponing (slow starters, singles with slow career) or being on time (career and family, fast starters, fast partnership, and late parenthood, career with unsteady partnerships) in various transitions. Those who followed a postponed pathway showed more depressive symptoms, less optimism, and more task-avoidance in both social and achievement situations at the beginning of their studies than those who followed a non-postponed pathway. Following a postponed pathway predicted a higher level of depressive symptoms later, after controlling for initial depressive symptoms.