TY  - JOUR
A1  - Billari, Francesco
T1  - Becoming an Adult in Europe: A Macro(/Micro)-Demographic Perspective
Y1  - 2004/04/17
JF  - Demographic Research
JO  - Demographic Research
SN  - 1435-9871
SP  - 15
EP  - 44
DO  - 10.4054/DemRes.2004.S3.2
VL  - S3
IS  - 0
UR  - https://www.demographic-research.org/special/3/0/
L1  - https://www.demographic-research.org/special/3/0/s3-0.pdf
L2  - https://www.demographic-research.org/special/3/0/s3-0.pdf
N2  - Extreme cases in demography are important challenges for researchers, and the still important heterogeneity of European societies is a blessing for scholars interested in studying the importance of cultural and institutional factors. In the transition to adulthood the "latest-late" pattern of Southern Europe cohabits with its opposite "earliest-early" pattern of the Nordic countries. 

In this paper, I discuss multifaceted approaches to the explanation of why becoming an "adult" in Europe appears so diverse. I use secondary data analyses and present cross-country correlations: welfare state and institutional arrangements, historical and deeply rooted cultural differences, as well as economic and policy factors, and ideational change. Moreover, micro-level determinants play different roles in different societies. Future research on the transition to adulthood in Europe needs to be multilevel, comparative and interdisciplinary, and to consider the potential implication of persistent differences in patterns.

ER  -