Standardization and Individualization: The transition from youth to adulthood among cohorts born between 1903 and 1965

This article examines changes in the timing and patterning of several main transitions during young adulthood: leaving the parental home, unmarried cohabitation, marriage, and first childbirth. Using data from three large-scale surveys containing retrospective questions, trends in these transitions are studied for cohorts born between 1903 and 1965. For cohorts born up to the 1940s, a trend towards standardization of the life course is found, whereas for younger cohorts an opposite trend towards destandardization is observed. Furthermore, recent birth cohorts tend to postpone marriage and childbearing, indicating an increased preference for flexibility in the life course. No decline in sex and social class differences was observed, which questions the alleged general tendency towards individualization of the life course.

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