Trajectories Based on Postcomprehensive and Higher Education: Their Correlates and Antecedents

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate different trajectories of education, based on annual attendance in postcomprehensive and higher education between ages 15 and 42, and their correlates and antecedents. A special focus was on education that occurred after spending several years in the labor market (i.e., off‐time education). Analyses were based on the Finnish Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development in which the same participants have been followed from age 8 to 42. Four trajectories were obtained: no or early, off‐time, on‐time, and continuing education. Through adulthood, career stability, and occupational status were lower among off‐time and no or early education participants than among the others. Women on the off‐time education trajectory showed an increased level of optimism and achieved identity from age 27 to 42. Both off‐time and no or early education participants came from a low socioeconomic (SES) family and had problems in their social behavior at age 8 and school adjustment at age 14. Different types of, and reasons for attending, adult education should be better understood, and adult education should be individually targeted.