The Transition to Adulthood

Abstract

An enonnous amount of research on the transition to adulthood in America is founded on early landmark studies that include Elmtown' S Youth by August B. Hollingshead (1961), The Adolescent Society by James Coleman (1961), and the report of the Presidential Panel on Youth ( 1974). Research culminating in what has become known as the Wisconsin model of status attainment focused attention on the transition to adulthood; the study found that social psycholog­ ical and institutional factors operating in adolescence mediated the effects of socioeconomic origins on educational attainment, occupational attainment, and e arnings (Sewell & Hauser 1975). More recently, concern with high levels of premarital adolescent pregnancy among blacks and rising levels among whites prompted a great many studies on the antecedents and consequences of a premature transition to parenthood (Chilman 1980). Similarly, high levels of youth unemployment stimulated investigation of the process by which young people make the transition to full-time worker (Stephenson 1979). Scholarly interest in changes in the family life course has led to research on historical changes in the transition to adulthood (Modell et a11976, Winsborough 1978, Hogan 1981). Researchers' work on labor markets and socioeconomic attain­ ments led to study of the nature of careers (Spenner et a11982, Elder 1985a ). At the same time, new and better techniques for the collection and analysis of event history data have been developed (Hannan & Tuma 1979). The transition from adolescent to adult has long been of interest to students of human development. During the period of adolescence, young people grow to their full adult size , undergo the hormonal and physical changes associated with puberty, and attain reproductive maturity. Piaget has defined the cognitive task of adolescence as the achievement of fonnal operational reasoning (see Mussen 1970, Keating 1980). Personality development during adolescence has been