Volume 6 - Article 8 | Pages 191-240

Political Economy and Life Course Patterns: The Heterogeneity of Occupational, Family and Household Trajectories of Young Spaniards

By Pau Baizan, Francesca Michielin, Francesco Billari


Date received:	13 Dec 2001
Date published:	06 Mar 2002
Word count:	9613
Keywords:	delayed transition to adulthood, life course, postponement of family formation, sequence analysis, Spain, young adults
DOI:	10.4054/DemRes.2002.6.8

Abstract

We explore the strong linkages between macro changes and the dynamics of educational, occupational, family, and residential careers of young Spanish adults born between 1945 and 1974. We review theory and evidence on macro factors: changes in the welfare system, centrality of the family as a service provider, and the changing role of women. We outline some hypotheses of how life course trajectories, and their heterogeneity, change across cohorts. We build data on sequences of states using FFS.
In our analysis, we find an increase in the discontinuity of careers and of the heterogeneity among cohort members, especially for employment. Women's careers are becoming more similar to those of men. Family and household formation is postponed, with a limited spread of post-nuclear family forms.

Author's Affiliation

Pau Baizan - Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain [Email]
Francesca Michielin - University of Amsterdam, Netherlands [Email]
Francesco Billari - Bocconi University, Milan, Italy [Email]