Becoming Adults: Life Course Transitions in Mexican Young People

Carlos J. Echarri Canovas, El Colegio de México
Julieta Perez Amador, University of Wisconsin at Madison

This paper explores the transition into adulthood in recent generations of Mexican youngsters. Comparing rural and urban context by gender, our aim is to analyze the occurrence and the timing of its related events. We also search for inter-relationships among them and focus on the factors that bring forward or delay its occurrence. Using data from 2000 National Youth Survey, we found that the Mexican transition to adulthood is characterized by an early entry into labor market and by a living home process closely related to marriage. From the multivariate analysis, it arises that living in a restrictive context accelerates the transition into adulthood, while a good parent-child communication and a better economic status delay it. Finally, we found sexuality as a very important aspect of the transition into adulthood since the onset of sexual activity is rapidly followed by the family transitions, specially for women.