Transitions to Adulthood in Europe

Over the years, the Population and Family Studies Centre (CBGS), a scientific institute of the Flemish Community, has intensively investigated these changes constituting the Second Demographic Transition, not only through national but through cross-national comparative research. The first aim of this title is to describe the similarities and differences in the timing and kind of transition among the post-war cohorts in Austria, Britain, Flanders (Belgium), France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Spain. A comparative description allows consideration of whether trends across Europe are converging or whether inter-country differences persist. A second aim of this volume is to bring together the results of individual-level studies from these ten European countries, analyzing the impact of selected determinants on the transition to adulthood. The focus in particular is on those factors that gave rise to the Second Demographic Transition. Almost all studies make use of the Fertility and Family Survey data, a survey co-ordinated in the 1990s by the Population Activities Unit of the Economic Commission for Europe of the United Nations. Comparing the results of these country-specific analyses sheds an intriguing light on the various ways in which these determinants operate in different economic and cultural contexts.