Demographic perspectives on the transition to adulthood: An introduction

Abstract

This 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.