Introduction

Abstract

This book deals with the new period of young adulthood, focusing on two important themes: the role of local context in shaping the transition to adulthood, and the subjective experience of young adults themselves as they experience this period of change, possibility, and uncertainty. The relationship between the structural changes in the economy, the housing market, the educational system, and the cultural changes in norms and expectations about the “normal” course of behavior for young adults, remains at the heart of the analyses. In the portrait that arises, huge regional differences are evident across sites—indeed, national averages obscure some of the ways in which local labor, housing, and education opportunities structure people's lives. Young people deliberate as to how they make choices about big life transitions, and how that makes them feel.