Men's and Women's Pathways to Adulthood and Their Adolescent Precursors

2010/09/29 by Sabrina Oesterle, J. David Hawkins, Sheryl A. Hemphill +1 · 2 citations
Social Sciences · #Work-Family Balance Challenges #Family Dynamics and Relationships #Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving

paper · doi:10.1111/j.1741-3737.2010.00775.x

openalex publication_date 2010/09/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

This study compared men's and women's pathways to adulthood by examining how role transitions in education, work, marriage, and parenthood intersect and form developmental pathways from ages 18-30. The study investigated how sociodemographic factors and adolescent experiences were associated with these pathways. We used latent class analysis to analyze longitudinal data from a gender-balanced panel of 808 contemporary young adults. We found three similar latent pathways for both genders, but men and women differed in the timing of marriage and when they began to live with children and the likelihood of combining both roles. The present study points to the continued, though differential, relevance of marriage and family in the transition to adulthood for men and women.

Citations

• Learning to Stand Alone: The Contemporary American Transition to Adulthood in Cultural and Historical Context
• Species Richness of Parasite Assemblages: Evolution and Patterns

Cited by

• The Transition to Adulthood
• Emerging adulthood and early adulthood [wikipedia]

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