Diverging trends in the age of social and biological transitions to adulthood

IF 3.4 2区社会学 Q1 Medicine

Advances in Life Course Research Pub Date : 2025-06-18 DOI:10.1016/j.alcr.2025.100690

Vegard Skirbekk , Christian K. Tamnes , Pétur Benedikt Júlíusson , Astanand Jugessur , Tilmann von Soest

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

We discuss how different disciplines vary in their definitions of what constitutes the transition to adulthood and the age at which this transition is attained. This review synthesizes diverse perspectives on conceptualizing adulthood, exploring markers from demographic, economic, legal, cultural, subjective, psychological, and biological domains―each offering unique insights. We discuss how this life transition has changed over time and across different contexts. We find that while socioeconomic markers such as entering the labor market and first childbirth are increasingly being delayed in contemporary societies, biological markers like puberty occur earlier, while institutional and legal markers of the transition are often constant. Consequently, individuals now experience extended periods of biological maturity before achieving social adulthood. This review highlights the complexities of defining adulthood and underscores the need for an updated and multidisciplinary examination of this significant life stage transition.

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社会和生理年龄向成年过渡的不同趋势

我们将讨论不同学科对什么构成了向成年的过渡以及实现这种过渡的年龄的定义是如何不同的。这篇综述综合了对成年概念化的不同观点，探索了人口、经济、法律、文化、主观、心理和生物领域的标记，每一个都提供了独特的见解。我们将讨论这种生活转变是如何随着时间和不同背景而改变的。我们发现，虽然社会经济标志（如进入劳动力市场和第一次分娩）在当代社会越来越晚，但青春期等生物学标志发生得更早，而过渡的制度和法律标志往往是不变的。因此，在达到社会成年期之前，个体现在经历了较长的生理成熟期。这篇综述强调了定义成年期的复杂性，并强调了对这一重要生命阶段过渡进行更新和多学科检查的必要性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Advances in Life Course Research SOCIAL SCIENCES, INTERDISCIPLINARY-

CiteScore

6.10

自引率

2.90%

发文量

期刊介绍： Advances in Life Course Research publishes articles dealing with various aspects of the human life course. Seeing life course research as an essentially interdisciplinary field of study, it invites and welcomes contributions from anthropology, biosocial science, demography, epidemiology and statistics, gerontology, economics, management and organisation science, policy studies, psychology, research methodology and sociology. Original empirical analyses, theoretical contributions, methodological studies and reviews accessible to a broad set of readers are welcome.