Sociology I / Family, Generations and the Life Course
Practice question · Put in order

Arrange the steps of the classic post-war standardised transition to adulthood, in the order it was expected to occur.

Hints
  1. The sequence is the one that de-standardisation has disrupted.
  2. Employment came before leaving home, and partnership before children.
Show the answer
  1. Complete full-time education
  2. Enter stable employment
  3. Leave the parental home
  4. Form a co-residential partnership
  5. Have a first child
Why

The sequence is worth learning because every element of it is now routinely reordered, repeated or reversed: people return home after leaving, partner before stable employment, have children before marrying, and re-enter education mid-career. De-standardisation does not mean the transitions vanished; it means their order and timing stopped being predictable from one another.

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