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The Transition to Adulthood in the Developed Western World: a Focus on the Achievement of Economic Independence and on the Role of Family Background

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The Transition to Adulthood in the Developed Western World: a Focus on the Achievement of Economic Independence and on the Role of Family Background University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2013 The Transition to Adulthood in the Developed Western World: a Focus on the Achievement of Economic Independence and on the Role of Family Background Maria Sironi University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Demography, Population, and Ecology Commons Recommended Citation Sironi, Maria, "The Transition to Adulthood in the Developed Western World: a Focus on the Achievement of Economic Independence and on the Role of Family Background" (2013). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 700. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/700 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/700 For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Transition to Adulthood in the Developed Western World: a Focus on the Achievement of Economic Independence and on the Role of Family Background Abstract The second half of the twentieth century has been characterized by substantial changes in demographic behaviors. Among these transformations also the process by which adolescents and teenagers transition to adulthood has changed greatly in many countries of the Western world. All the events of the transition to adulthood have been delayed and life course trajectories became more diverse. There are some aspects concerning the mentioned changes that have not been extensively studied in the literature. This dissertation is a collection of three papers that have the aim to investigate these neglected aspects concerning life course trajectories of young adults. In particular, the first two papers look at trends over time in the achievement of economic independence, a crucial event in the transition to adulthood that has not received enough attention so far. The first paper is a cross-national comparison describing the situation in six different developed societies. The second paper studies only the United States, going back to the 1970s and tracing changes over time until 2007. The third paper, instead, focuses on the role of parental social class in the transition to adulthood. The exact mechanisms by which socio-economic status affects the transition to economic self-sufficiency and family formation ear largely unknown. A better understanding of these issues can highlight additional information to understand why and how the transition to adulthood has changed in the last five decades. Analyses were carried out using survey data from the Luxemburg Income Study (LIS), the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS, NLSY79, NLSY97), and the Multipurpose ISTAT (FSS 2003). A first main finding of this study is that the transition to economic independence has been delayed together with all the other events of the transition to adulthood. This process has occurred in all developed Western countries even if with some differences. A second finding is that parental social class can explain some of the variation in life courses, and that a higher social class is associated with a postponement in the transition. Also the role of family background, however, differentiates based on welfare state regimes, institutions, and the strength of family ties. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Demography First Advisor Frank Furstenberg Second Advisor Hans-Peter Kohler Keywords Economic Independence, Education, Family Background, Social Class, Transition to Adulthood Subject Categories Demography, Population, and Ecology | Sociology This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/700 THE TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD IN THE DEVELOPED WESTERN WORLD: A FOCUS ON THE ACHIEVEMENT OF ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE AND ON THE ROLE OF FAMILY BACKGROUND Maria Sironi A DISSERTATION in Demography Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2013 Supervisor of Dissertation ___________________ Frank F. Furstenberg, Zellerbach Family Professor of Sociology Graduate Group Chairperson _______________________ Hans-Peter Kohler, Frederick J. Warren Professor of Demography Dissertation Committee Hans-Peter Kohler, Frederick J. Warren Professor of Demography Frank F. Furstenberg, Professor of Sociology Kristen Harknett, Associate Professor of Sociology ! ! ! Acknowledgements The last four years spent working on my PhD have been among the most intense and enriching years of my life. But I could not have walked through this journey alone, and I would like to thank all the people that have guided me and shared this with me. Each one of you gave me the support I needed to complete my PhD, and also made this experience difficult to forget. Thank you all for the irreplaceable help, encouragement and precious teaching. First and foremost I am grateful for the guidance, support, and honest feedback from my generous advisor Frank Furstenberg. He spent an enormous amount of time and effort supervising and revising my work, and helping me to become a more meticulous and prepared researcher. He has not only been a great advisor but also a unique mentor, inspiring my work through his enthusiasm and passion, and always having the right words when I had to make important decisions. I am also thankful to have Hans-Peter Kohler as the Chair of my dissertation committee. He is an exceptional demographer and his important advice and useful suggestions substantially contributed to improving my dissertation. His broad view of the discipline was immeasurably helpful. I would also like to thank Kristen Harknett, who read numerous drafts of my papers and offered extremely valuable feedback and guidance in preparing manuscripts for publication. In addition to my dissertation committee, many people in the Sociology Department and Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania have guided my research. Samuel Preston has been an amazing professor and brought me close to research topics that were not familiar to me. I also want to thank Irma Elo, Michel ii ! ! ! Guillot, Emilio Parrado, Melissa Wilde, Paul Allison, Iliana Kohler, Jere Behrman and Paul Rosenbaum. Many others at the PSC have been extremely helpful and patient, especially Yuni Thornton, Patricia Miller and Tanya Yang. I would have never gone through these four years so healthy and happy without all the members of my demography cohort, both those who are still here with me and those who took another route – Theresa Fedor, Michael Harhay, Jessica Ho, Ameed Saabneh, Andrew Stokes, Emily Vala-Haynes, Jorge Valencia. A special thanks goes to Emily and Theresa, who have been wonderful office mates, great friends, and amazing reviewers: talking to you was always inspiring and your support in stressful times has been fundamental for the completion of my PhD. Thank you also to all the other students in the graduate group in demography at Penn, who created a cooperative and inspiring atmosphere that has been conducive to both my individual and collaborative progress as a student and as a researcher. My sincere gratitude also extends to the two Professors that introduced me to the field, made me passionate about demography and convinced me to apply for a PhD at Penn: Francesco Billari and Arnie Aassve. I would have never known how fun and exciting demography could be without your class and without working with you during my Master degree. Also you never “left me alone” in these four years, and your invaluable comments and generous suggestions helped me become a better researcher. I had the opportunity during my PhD to spend a lot of time at the Dondena Centre for Research on Social Dynamics, at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. There I met wonderful people, who have been friends, colleagues, mentors and supporters at the same time: Alice Goisis, Elena Meroni, Chiara Pronzato, Bruno Arpino, Agnese Vitali, Giulia iii ! ! ! Ferrari, Letizia Mencarini, Nicola Barban, Alessia Melegaro, Lara Tavares, Lea Pessin, Sissi Balbo, Ross MacMillan, Elena Cottini, Emanuele Del Fava, Piero Poletti, Roberto Impicciatore, Noemi Colombo, Elisabetta De Cao. A special thank you goes to my coauthors Nicola and Roberto who made the last months of my PhD so productive and so enjoyable, and from whom I learned a lot. I have been surrounded by two groups of wonderful friends, one in Italy and one in Philly. Both have always been present in the four years of my PhD, wherever I was. Grazie a Sara, Cri, Robi e Dodo per essermi sempre stati vicini, soprattutto nei momenti più difficili. Grazie per avermi spronata a non mollare, per non avermi mai fatto sentire lontana e avermi accolto ogni volta anche tornavo come se non fossi mai andata via. Sono orgogliosa di avere amici come voi. Grazie ad Alice per avere reso gli ultimi anni di PhD più accoglienti nella nostra umile dimora “Pertugio”, dove ho sempre trovato la serenità e l’entusiasmo necessari per completare la tesi. Grazie a Lilli per avermi accompagnato in questo viaggio con saggi consigli, senza i quali in alcuni momenti avrei rischiato di finire “fuori strada”. Grazie alle mie compagne di squadra e amiche, con le quali ho vissuto gioie, dolori, e infinite serate in palestra. I am extremely thankful to all my friends in Philly, or that I have met in the United States during my PhD: Mariana, Luigi, Diego, Claudia, Mark, Marco, Alessandro, Manuelita, Giuseppe, Wanda, Marilena, Sina, Felipe, Andrea. A special thank goes to Paolo and Paola who welcomed me when I first arrived in Philadelphia. Thank you to Manuela, a great friend who offered me a place to stay in the last year and who had to stand me in the final stressful period of my PhD. I also would like to thank Elisabetta and Cinzia: grazie amiche per avermi fatto sentire a casa nei periodi che abbiamo condiviso iv ! ! ! insieme a Philadelphia, so che la nostra amicizia continuerà ovunque saremo. Thank you to all my basketball teammates at Penn, who gave me the possibility to keep playing during my PhD and to live new cultural experiences.
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