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Strings of Adulthood: A Sequence Analysis of Young British Women’s Work-Family Trajectories

Author

Listed:
  • Arnstein Aassve

    (University of Essex)

  • Francesco C. Billari

    (Università Bocconi)

  • Raffaella Piccarreta

    (Università Bocconi)

Abstract

Employment, union formation and childbearing are central processes within young individuals’ transition to adulthood. These processes interact in highly complex ways, and they shape actual life-course trajectories that may be seen as a conceptual unit. In this article we use a methodology to cluster life-course experiences, where all three processes are embedded explicitly, in order to study young women’s trajectories in Great Britain. Drawing on a sample from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), we define life-courses as sequences on a monthly time scale and we apply optimal matching analysis to compute dissimilarities between individuals. We then use standard clustering algorithms and we identify nine distinctive groups of women. Our results are then shown using a new representation of clusters and interpreted in the light of the existing socio-demographic literature on the dynamic work-family link.

Suggested Citation

  • Arnstein Aassve & Francesco C. Billari & Raffaella Piccarreta, 2007. "Strings of Adulthood: A Sequence Analysis of Young British Women’s Work-Family Trajectories," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 23(3), pages 369-388, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurpop:v:23:y:2007:i:3:d:10.1007_s10680-007-9134-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10680-007-9134-6
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    References listed on IDEAS

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