Demographic Transformations, Structural Contexts, and Transitions to Adulthood

This framing chapter focuses on young men of Latin American descent in the United States and on their transitions to adulthood in a context of major demographic and structural change. Following a discussion of societal contexts and transformations shaping adult transitions today, key characteristics of young Hispanic men and women age 18 to 34 are first contrasted against those of major non-Hispanic demographic groups (whites, blacks, Asians); the major Hispanic groups are then compared to each other (Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Central and South Americans and others); finally, differences among different generational cohorts of Latino men are examined, from the first to the second to the third-and-higher generations. Given their central significance to the population as a whole, Latino males can be considered a "strategic research site."