(Withdrawn) Paths to adulthood: a focus on the children of immigrants

Helga A. G. de Valk, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

In this paper I study the timing and sequencing of major events in the transition to adulthood of second generation Turkish and Moroccan, as well as native youth in different European countries. First of all, the study goes beyond looking at separate transitions by questioning what paths (sequences of events) young Turks, Moroccans and native youth take in the transition to adulthood by studying the timing of four major events namely the end of education, leaving the parental home, union formation and family formation. Secondly the diversity in trajectories both within and between each of the three groups of origin is assessed. Finally, I study the factors that explain different paths into adulthood among the studied groups. Data come from the European study “The integration of the second generation” (TIES, 2007), including second generation Turks, Moroccans and Dutch aged 18 to 35 years living in thirteen European cities. Findings for the Netherlands show that the diversity in states is similar for Turkish, Moroccan and Dutch young adults; leaving home to live on ones own and unmarried cohabitation are also experiences by many of the second generation. Contrary to the theoretical idea of de-standardization of the life course we do not find more heterogeneity in paths for the Dutch than for the second generation. Education is found to be one of the major determinants in sequencing and timing of events among all studied groups.