DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITIONS AND THE LIFE COURSE: Lessons from Japanese and American Comparisons

Abstract

Three features of early life course of Americans and Europeans during the twen tieth century are of note: (1) the increased age-grading of transitions; (2) the closer spacing of different transitions, and (3) the more extensive overlap between economic and family transitions. Historical changes in the structure of individual life histories have been interpreted alternatively, as a consequence of industrialization and urbanization, or as the result of rising levels of the family and personal incomes available for consumption and investment in human capital skills. In this article we bring additional evidence to bear on this debate by comparing historical changes in the early life transitions of men and women in Japan and the United States. Trends in the transition to adulthood systematically relate to the structure of schools and labor markets in the two nations, drawing attention to the various life course implications of the institutional forms under which industrial societies may organize.

Better Late Than Never? Delayed Enrollment in the High School to College Transition

“…Successive cohorts, however, declined in their adherence to this order. The most common deviation is to marry before completing school -a pattern that is more salient among the better educated (Hogan and Mochizuki 1988). A variety of studies show that interruptions in schooling area common feature of the transition to adulthood.…”

Schooling in the Course of Human Lives: The Social Context of Education and the Transition to Adulthood in Industrial Society

“…Nearly all of Blossfeld & Huinink (1991) Representative sample of 2, 171 German women Retrospective life histories gathered from cohorts born 1929-1931, 1939-1941, 1981-19831949-1951Buchmann (1989 (a) Representative sample of 877 White male and (a) 1-, 5-, and 11-year follow-up surveys; female high school seniors in 1960. (b) represen« (b) 2-and 4-year follow-up surveys tative sample of 877 White male and female high school seniors in 1980 Coleman (1984) 1,589 U.S. Black and White men born between Retrospective life histories gathered in 1930and 19391968Featherman & Carter (1976 340 men in Lewanee County, MI, aged 17 in 1957 15-year follow-up interview Furstenberg, Brooks-Gunn, & 324 Black women in Baltimore, MD, who became 5-year follow-up interview Morgan (1987) pregnant in 1966-1968 331 Black women in Baltimore, MD, who became 17-year follow-up interview pregnant in 1966-1968Gee (1990 1,583 English-speaking women in British Columbia, Telephone interview 1987Canada, born 1905-1949Hogan & Mochizuki (1988 (a) Representative sample of 33,500 men in civilian 1907-1953Kerckhoff (1990 Representative sample of 15,712 men and women Interviews at age 23 born in Great Britain in 1958 Marini, Chan, & Raymond 6,498 predominantly White men and women en-15-year follow-up survey (1987) rolled in Illinois high schools in 1957-1958Marini (1987a 6,498 predominately White men and women en-15-year follow-up survey rolled in Illinois high schools in 1957-1958Mayer (1988 Approx Black and White, non-Hispanic U.S. men and women in senior year of high school in 1972 Stevens (1990) Representative samples of U.S. men and women in U.S. decennial censu...…”

“…But, the proportion of U.S. men who fit this pattern has declined since across successive cohorts. Fewer than 60% of the men born after 1932 completed school prior to beginning regular jobs and getting married (Hogan, 1981;Hogan & Mochizuki, 1988).…”

“…Fewer than 10% of the men born between 1907 and 1915 married before completing school, but between 20% and 25% of the men born between 1924 and 1947 did so (Hogan, 1981). The reversal of the dominant ordering of school completion and marriage is more common among better educated men, who stay in school longer, than among less well-educated men (Hogan & Mochizuki, 1988). While this reversal has become more common in the U.S., it remains extremely rare in both Japan and Great Britain, where fewer than 1% of young men and women of either country marry before leaving full-time school (Hogan & Mochizuki, 1988;Kerckhoff, 1990).…”

“…In contrast, U.S. culture is dominated by an ideology of individualism (Gans, 1988;Bellah, Madsen, Sullivan, Swidler, & Tipton, 1985) that places a much higher value on autonomy and individual achievement. Hogan and Mochizuki (1988) explored the consequences of these differences between Japan and the U.S. They were especially interested in judging the extent to which changes in the individual life course could be accounted for by modernization and increased affluence, a common explanation for the declining amount of time needed to move from adolescence to adulthood.…”