The Transition to Adulthood as a Career Contingency

Individuals in American society tend to agree that it is normatively appropriate behavior to order the events marking the transition to adulthood so that formal schooling is completed first, and so that both school completion and beginning of first job occur prior to marriage. This paper reports on the testing of the hypothesis that men who order their transition events in a nonnormative fashion experience reduced occupational status and earnings returns in their later careers. The study is based on the responses of 18,370 ever-married white males aged 20 to 65, who were employed in the experienced civilian labor force, and were interviewed in the 1973 Occupational Changes in a Generation II survey. While no difference in occupational attainments are observed, men who experience a disorderly transition to adulthood also experience lower earnings returns to their education, as well as substantial deficits in their total earnings.