Stages on Life's Way

In this study, 160 high school and college students were asked to describe their beliefs about the life course, in general, and the adulthood transition, inparticular. The majority (93%) described the life course in terms of an age period approach, with infancy, childhood, adulthood, and old age commonly described as stages. Life span status differences emerged in the ages at which adolescents believed adulthood transition events would occur overall and for the average woman versus the average man: College students described older ages of occurrence for leaving home, beginning full-time employment, marriage, andparenthood than did high school students. For both groups, however, marriage and parenthood were thought to occur at significantly younger ages for the average woman than for the average man. Findings are discussed in terms of the implicit life course theories that adolescents bring to the adulthood transition.