This paper by Francesco Billari, Nicole Hiekel, and Aart Liefbroer (2019) examines how the occurrence and timing of major demographic decisions in the transition to adulthood are socially stratified. Young adults from high socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds tend to experience these events later than those from low-SES backgrounds. To explain this pattern, the authors propose a theoretical framework in which social stratification shapes choices through three potentially reinforcing pathways: stratified socialization, stratified agency, and stratified opportunity. Drawing on longitudinal data from two waves of the Generations and Gender Surveys in Austria, Bulgaria, and France, the study finds support for all three pathways, with only minor differences by gender, age, and national context.
Francesco C Billari, Nicole Hiekel, Aart C Liefbroer, The Social Stratification of Choice in the Transition to Adulthood, European Sociological Review, Volume 35, Issue 5, October 2019, Pages 599–615, https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcz025
