Abstract
This article examines pathways to adulthood among Dutch cohorts born in the second half of the nineteenth century. Although largely overlooked by previous studies, theory suggests that life courses of young adults born during this period were already influenced by a process of standardization, in the sense that their life courses became more similar over time. Using data from a Dutch registry-based sample, we examine household trajectories: that is, sequences of living arrangements of young adults aged 15–40. Our study shows that for successive cohorts, household trajectories became more similar. We identified six types of trajectories: early death, life-cycle service, early family formation, late family formation, singlehood, and childless but with partner. Overtime, early family formation gradually became the “standard” trajectory to adulthood. However, late family formation and singlehood, tcommon pathways within the preindustrial western European marriage pattern, remained widespread among cohorts born in the late nineteenth century. Laboring class youths, farmers’ daughters, young people of mixed religious background, and urban-born youngsters were the nineteenth century forerunners of a standard pathway to adulthood.
The text of this article is only available as a PDF.
References
Abbott, A., & Forrest, J. (
1986
). Optimal Matching Methods for Historical Sequences
. Journal of Interdisciplinary History
, 16
, 471
–94
. 10.2307/204500Abbott, A., & Tsay, A. (
2000
). Sequence Analysis and Optimal Matching Methods in Sociology
. Sociological Methods & Research
, 29
(1
), 3
–33
. 10.1177/0049124100029001001Arosio, L. (
2004
). Occupational Careers and Longitudinal Data: Tools and Perspectives of Research
. Quality & Quantity
, 38
, 435
–56
. 10.1023/B:QUQU.0000043117.38242.a3Aassve, A., Billari, F., & Piccarreta, R. (
2007
). Strings of Adulthood: A Sequence Analysis of Young British Women’s Work-Family Trajectories
. European Journal of Population
, 23
, 369
–88
. 10.1007/s10680-007-9134-6Baizán, P., Michelin, F., & Billari, F.C. (
2002
). Political Economy and Life Course Patterns: The Heterogeneity of Occupational, Family and Household Trajectories of Young Spaniards
. Demographic Research
, 6
, 191
–240
. 10.4054/DemRes.2002.6.8Beck, U. (
1992
). Individualization, Institutionalization and Standardization: Life Situations and Biographical Patterns
Risk Society
(pp. 127
–38
). New Delhi
: Sage
.Billari, F.C. (
2001
). The Analysis of Early Life Courses: Complex Descriptions of the Transition to Adulthood
. Journal of Population Research
, 18
, 119
–42
. 10.1007/BF03031885Bras, H. (
2004
). Social Change, the Institution of Service and Youth: The Case of Service in the Lives of Rural-Born Dutch Women, 1840–1940
. Continuity and Change
, 19
, 241
–64
. 10.1017/S0268416004004989Brinkgreve, C., & De Regt, A. (
1991
). Adolescentie als opgave. Ontwikkelingen in een levensfase 1750–1990” [Adolescence as issue. Developments in a life phase 1750–1990]
. In Van der Zanden, I. (Ed.), Het is meisjes menens. Inleiding meisjesstudies
(pp. 15
–35
). Amersfoort/Leuven
: Acco
.Brückner, J., & Mayer, K.U. (
2005
). De-Standardization of the Life Course: What Might It Mean? And If It Means Anything, Whether It Actually Took Place
. In Macmillan, R. (Ed.), The Structure of the Life Course: Standardized? Individualized? Differentiated?
(pp. 27
–53
). Amsterdam
: Elsevier
.Brüderl, J., & Scherer, S. (
2005
). Methoden zur Analyse von Sequenzdaten” [Methods of analysis of sequence data]
. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie
, 44
, 330
–47
.Buchmann, M. (
1989
). The Script of Life in Modern Society. Entry Into Adulthood in a Changing World
. Chicago
: University of Chicago Press
.Chen, S., Ma, B., & Zhang, K. (
2009
). On the Similarity Metric and the Distance Metric
. Theoretical Computer Science
, 410
, 2365
–76
. 10.1016/j.tcs.2009.02.023Coale, A.J., & Watkins, S.C. (
1986
). The Decline of Fertility in Europe: The Revised Proceedings of a Conference on the Princeton European Fertility Project
. Princeton, NJ
: Princeton University Press
.Derosas, R., & Van Poppel, F. (
2006
). Religion and the Decline of Fertility in the Western World
. Dordrecht
: Springer
.Duda, R.O., Hart, P.R., & Stork, D.G. (
2001
). Pattern Classification
. New York
: Wiley
.Elder, G.H. (
1978
). Family History and the Life Course
. In Hareven, T.K. (Ed.), Transitions. The Family and the Life Course in Historical Perspective
(pp. 17
–64
). New York, San Francisco, London
: Academic Press
.Elder, G.H. (
1985
). Life Course Dynamics: Trajectories and Transitions, 1968–1980
. Ithaca, NY
: Cornell University Press
.Elder, G.H., Johnson, M.K., & Crosnoe, R. (
2003
). The Emergence and Development of Life Course Theory
. In Mortimer, J.T., & Shanahan, M. (Eds.), Handbook of the Life Course
(pp. 3
–19
). New York
: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers
.Elzinga, C.H. (
2003
). Sequence Similarity—A Non-Aligning Technique
. Sociological Methods & Research
, 31
, 3
–29
. 10.1177/0049124103253373Elzinga, C.H. (
2005
). Combinatorial Representation of Token Sequences
. Journal of Classification
, 21
(1
), 87
–118
. 10.1007/s00357-005-0007-6Elzinga, C.H. (
2008
). CHESA User’s Guide
. the Netherlands
: Department of Social Science Research Methods, VU University Amsterdam
.Elzinga, C.H., & Liefbroer, A.C. (
2007
). De-Standardization of Family-Life Trajectories of Young Adults: A Cross-National Comparison Using Sequence Analysis
. European Journal of Population
, 23
, 225
–50
. 10.1007/s10680-007-9133-7Elzinga, C.H., Rahmann, S., & Wang, H. (
2008
). Algorithms for Subsequence Combinatorics
. Theoretical Computer Science
, 409
, 394
–404
. 10.1016/j.tcs.2008.08.035Engelen, T., & Kok, J. (
2003
). Permanent Celibacy and Late Marriage in the Netherlands, 1890–1960
. Population
, 58
(1
), 67
–96
.Gabadinho, A., Ritschard, G., Studer, M., & Müller, N.S. (
2008
). Mining Sequence Data in R With the TraMineR Package: A User’s Guide
. Switzerland
: Department of Econometrics and Laboratory of Demography, University of Geneva
.Gillis, J.R. (
1974
). Youth and History. Tradition and Change in European Age Relations 1770—Present
. New York/London
: Academic Press
.Hajnal, J. (
1965
). European Marriage Patterns in Perspective
. In Glass, D.V., & Eversley, D.E.C. (Eds.), Population in History. Essays in Historical Demography
(pp. 101
–43
). London
: Arnold
.Hajnal, J. (
1983
). Two Kinds of Preindustrial Household Formation Systems
. In Wall, R., Robin, J., & Laslett, P. (Eds.), Family Forms in Historic Europe
(pp. 65
–104
). Cambridge
: Cambridge University Press
.Hanawalt, B.A. (
1992
). Historical Descriptions and Prescriptions for Adolescence
. Journal of Family History
, 17
, 341
–51
.Hareven, T.K. (
1986
). Historical Change in the Social Construction of the Life Course
. Human Development
, 29
, 171
–80
.Hofstee, E.W. (
1981
). Korte demografische geschiedenis van Nederland van 1800 tot heden
. Bussum
: Unieboek
.Hogan, D.P. (
1978
). The Variable Order of Events in the Life Course
. American Sociological Review
, 43
, 573
–86
. 10.2307/2094780Hogan, D.P. (
1981
). Transitions and Social Change. The Early Lives of American Men
. New York
: Academic Press
.Hynes, K., & Clarkberg, M. (
2005
). Women’s Employment Patterns During Early Parenthood: A Group-Based Trajectory Analysis
. Journal of Marriage and Family
, 2005
, 222
–39
. 10.1111/j.0022-2445.2005.00017.xJackson, P.B., & Berkowitz, A. (
2005
). The Structure of the Life Course: Gender and Racioethnic Variation in the Occurrence and Sequencing of Role Transitions
. In Macmillan, R. (Ed.), The Structure of the Life Course: Standardized? Individualized? Differentiated?
(pp. 55
–90
). Amsterdam
: Elsevier
.Knippenberg, H., & De Pater, B. (
1988
). De eenwording van Nederland. Schaalvergroting en integratie sinds 1800
. Nijmegen
: SUN
.Kohli, M. (
1986
). The World We Forgot: A Historical Review of the Life Course
. In Marshall, V.W. (Ed.), Later Life: The Social Psychology of Ageing
(pp. 271
–303
). Beverly Hills, CA
: Sage
.Macmillan, R. (
2005
). The Structure of the Life Course: Classic Issues and Current Controversies
. In Macmillan, R. (Ed.), The Structure of the Life Course: Standardized? Individualized? Differentiated?
(pp. 3
–24
). Amsterdam
: Elsevier
.Mandemakers, K. (
1996
). HBS en Gymnasium. Ontwikkeling, structuur, sociale achtergrond en school-prestaties,Nederland, circa 1800–1968
. Amsterdam
: Stichting IISG Beheer
.Mandemakers, K. (
2006
). Building Life Course Data Sets From Population Registers by the Historical Sample of the Netherlands (HSN)
. History and Computing
, 14
(1–2
), 87
–101
.Marini, M.M. (
1984
). The Order of Events in the Transition to Adulthood
. Sociology of Education
, 57
, 63
–84
. 10.2307/2112630Martin, P., Schoon, I., & Ross, A. (
2008
). Beyond Transitions: Applying Optimal Matching Analysis to Life Course Research
. International Journal of Social Research Methodology
, 11
, 179
–99
. 10.1080/13645570701622025Mayer, K.-U. (
1986
). Structural Constraints on the Life Course
. Human Development
, 29
, 163
–70
.Mayer, K.-U. (
2004
). Whose Lives? How History, Society and Institutions Define and Shape Life Courses
. Research in Human Development
, 1
, 161
–87
. 10.1207/s15427617rhd0103_3Modell, J. (
1989
). Into One’s Own. From Youth to Adulthood in the United States 1920–1975
. Berkeley, CA
: University of California Press
.Modell, J., Furstenberg, F.F., & Hershberg, T. (
1976
). Social Change and Transitions to Adulthood in Historical Perspective
. Journal of Family History
, 1
, 7
–32
. 10.1177/036319907600100103Mouw, T. (
2005
). Sequences of Early Adult Transitions: A Look at Variability and Consequences
. In Settersten, R.A., Furstenberg, F.F., & Rumbaut, R.G. (Eds.), On the Frontier of Adulthood: Theory, Research and Public Policy
(pp. 256
–91
). Chicago
: University of Chicago Press
.Pollock, G. (
2007
). Holistic Trajectories: A Study of Combined Employment, Housing and Family Careers by Using Multiple-Sequence Analysis
. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society
, 170
, 167
–83
. 10.1111/j.1467-985X.2006.00450.xReher, D.S. (
1998
). Family Ties in Western Europe: Persistent Contrasts
. Population and Development Review
, 24
, 203
–34
. 10.2307/2807972Rindfuss, R.R., Swicegood, C.G., & Rosenfeld, R.A. (
1987
). Disorder in the Life Course: How Common and Does it Matter?
. American Sociological Review
, 52
, 785
–801
. 10.2307/2095835Settersten, R.A., Furstenberg, F.F., & Rumbaut, R.G. (
2005
). On the Frontier of Adulthood. Theory, Research, and Public Policy
. Chicago
: University of Chicago Press
.Settersten, R.A., & Mayer, K.-U. (
1997
). The Measurement of Age, Age Structuring, and the Life Course
. Annual Review of Sociology
, 23
, 233
–61
. 10.1146/annurev.soc.23.1.233Stanger-Ross, J., Collins, C., & Stern, M.J. (
2005
). Falling Far From the Tree. Transitions to Adulthood and the Social History of Twentieth-Century America
. Social Science History
, 29
, 625
–48
.Stevens, D.A. (
1990
). New Evidence on the Timing of Early Life Course Transitions: The United States 1900 to 1980
. Journal of Family History
, 15
, 163
–78
. 10.1177/036319909001500110Uhlenberg, P.R. (
1969
). A Study of Cohort Life Cycles: Cohorts of Native Born Massachusetts Women, 1830–1920
. Population Studies
, 23
, 407
–20
. 10.2307/2172879Uhlenberg, P.R. (
1974
). Cohort Variations in Family Life Cycle Experiences of U.S. Females
. Journal of Marriage and the Family
, 36
, 284
–92
. 10.2307/351154Van Bavel, J., & Kok, J. (
2005
). The Role of Religion in the Dutch Fertility Transition: Starting, Spacing and Stopping in the Heart of the Netherlands, 1845–1945
. Continuity and Change
, 20
, 247
–63
. 10.1017/S0268416005005473Van der Valk, L. (
1986
). Van pauperzorg tot bestaanszekerheid: een onderzoek naar de ontwikkeling van de armenzorg in Nederland tegen de achtergrond van de overgang naar de algemene Bijstandswet, 1912–1965
. Amsterdam
: Stichting IISG Beheer
.Van der Woud, A. (
2007
). Een nieuwe wereld. Het ontstaan van het moderne Nederland
. Amsterdam
: Bert Bakker
.Van Leeuwen, M.H.D., & Maas, I. (
2005
). A Short Note on HISCLASS
History of Work Information System
. Amsterdam, the Netherlands
: International Institute of Social History
.Van Leeuwen, M.H.D., Maas, I., & Miles, A. (
2002
). HISCO. Historical International Standard Classification of Occupations
. Leuven
: Leuven University Press
.Van Poppel, F. (
1992
). Trouwen in Nederland. Een historisch-demografische studie van de 19e en vroeg-20e eeuw
. The Hague
: Stichting NIDI
.Van Poppel, F. (
1999
). De “statistieke ontleding van de dooden”: een spraakzame bron?
. Nijmegen
: Nijmegen University Press
.Van Poppel, F., Oris, M., & Lee, J. (
2004
). The Road to Independence: Leaving Home in Western and Eastern Societies, 16th–20th Centuries
. Bern
: Peter Lang
.Van Zanden, J.L., & Van Riel, A. (
2004
). The Strictures of Inheritance: The Dutch Economy in the Nineteenth Century
. Princeton, NJ
: Princeton University Press
.Wall, R. (
1989
). Leaving Home and Living Alone: An Historical Perspective
. Population Studies
, 43
, 369
–89
. 10.1080/0032472031000144196Wall, R. (
1995
). Historical Development of the Household in Europe
. In van Imhoff, E., Kuijsten, A., Hooimeijer, P., & van Wissen, L. (Eds.), Household Demography and Household Modeling
(pp. 19
–52
). London
: Plenum Press
.Wintle, M. (
2000
). An Economic and Social History of the Netherlands, 1800–1920. Demographic, Economic and Social Transition
. Cambridge
: Cambridge University Press
.Wu, L.L. (
2000
). Some Comments on Sequence Analysis and Optimal Matching Methods in Sociology: Review and Prospect
. Sociological Methods & Research
, 29
, 41
–64
. 10.1177/0049124100029001003© Population Association of America 2010
2010
