The transition to adulthood and pathways out of the parental home: A cross-national analysis

Abstract

Abstract This study uses the second Wave of the Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) to examine young adults’ transition to adulthood in eight European countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania, and the Netherlands). I use reconstructed life courses from age 18 to 34 (N = 21,696) to simultaneously study key life course trajectories employing multichannel sequence analysis. In doing so, I adopt a comparative framework which specifically addresses cross-national differences in young adults’ life course trajectories and cross-national differences in the educational gradient of life course trajectories. The aim of this paper is to provide a holistic picture of young adults’ different pathways out of the parental home and their transition to adulthood in contemporary Europe. The main results indicate that young adults’ life course trajectories differ by education, country and sex, but also that the educational gradient is highly context-specific across European countries.