Demographic Transition and Life Course Change in Colombia

Abstract

This study investigates changes and differentials in the organization of the early life course of Colombian women. Life course events of interest include school enrollment, labor force attachment, cohabitation (formal and informal marriage), and parenthood. Using a variety of measures of the timing and synchronization of events, the early life course is described for Colombian women in terms of classifications such as birth cohort (indexing demographic and social modernization), urban and rural residence (indicating the institutionalization of the life course), and economic class (a measure of personal affluence). The results of the research are interpreted in the context of research on the history of the transition to adulthood in the United States, Norway, and Japan.