The Variable Order of Events in the Life Course

Abstract

The temporal order in which a man finishes school, starts working, and first marries is an important characteristic of his life course. Ordering patterns are distributed on a scale of the degree of conformity with the normative ordering of events. Major determinants of ordering patterns are identified. While family background is of limited importance for the ordering of events in the life cycle, the manner in which a man spends the years of late adolescence and early adulthood is of critical relevance. College attendance delays marriage, but not by a sufficient amount of time to prevent substantial numbers of men from marrying prior to completing their schooling. Military service is a major disruptive factor in the life courses of men, although the effects of service in the peacetime army have been less deleterious since men have some discretion in its timing. The unique histories of birth cohorts that result from the age-specific conjunction of period events is a crucial exogenous factor in the life course of men. Men for whom the ordering of events is deviant experience higher rates of marital disruption than do other men. This supports the hypothesis that the variable ordering of events in the life course is a contingency of some importance in the life cycle.