Differential Transitions of Adulthood in a Rapidly-Changing Social Context

Sutay Yavuz, Hacettepe University

Marriage and becoming a parent for the first time are the major life course transitions for an adolescent. During the last two decades, the social institutional setting of reproduction has experienced intensive transitions in Turkey. Different sections of the population have been affected by these changes in different ways and at varying paces. By applying event-history analysis to retrospective data, this study first investigates trends of adolescent marriage and entry into first-time motherhood in the context of socioeconomic, cultural and political changes. Secondly, the study demonstrates various patterns of transitions by mother tongue groups. Thirdly, we examine how the differential transitions to adulthood among mother tongue groups are conditioned by socioeconomic (structural) and socio-cultural characteristics of adolescents. The study demonstrates that to understand contemporary transitions to adulthood in Turkey, it is necessary to consider a combination of individual socioeconomic and cultural factors.