Boundary Crossings: Transitions from Childhood to Adulthood

TLDR

The boundary between childhood and adulthood is difficult to define, largely because the ambiguous period of youth blurs the distinction. The paper argues that this boundary is ambiguous, that transitions are complex and non‑linear, and that normative models fail to account for intersecting social differences such as gender, class, and sexuality. The author employs Beck’s individualisation and life‑course theory to construct a framework for analysing the processes by which young people transition from childhood to adulthood.

Abstract

In this paper I argue that the boundary between childhood and adulthood is very difficult to define. Notably, it is blurred by the ambiguous period of 'youth'. I therefore draw upon Beck's theoretical work on individualisation and the life-course, which has been influential in youth research in sociology and youth studies, to provide a framework for reviewing some of the processes through which young people make the transition from childhood to adulthood. In the conclusion I reflect on the need to explore the importance of the different spaces implicit in young people's transitions, and the interconnections between them. I also highlight how distinctions between the states of childhood and adulthood are not clear-cut, nor are transitions a one-off or one-way process. Rather I draw attention to the way that changes associated with growing up may or may not be connected, and may occur simultaneously, serially or not at all. Finally, I point out the limitations of normative models of transition given the way that other social differences such as gender, class and sexuality intersect with the categories children and youth.