GENDER, RACE, CLASS, AND THE TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD: A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Within the past twenty years, the transition to adulthood has become a burgeoning area of research. The status attainment process, an early model for transition to adulthood research, has given way to research focusing on singular outcomes such as completing formal education, leaving home, obtaining employment, forming a union through marriage or cohabitation, and becoming a parent. As young adults continue to delay family formation, some argue that one’s first experience of heterosexual intercourse is also a symbol of adult status (Meier, 2001). Although most scholars agree that these outcomes along with chronological age symbolize being an adult, relatively few empirical studies examine them as inter-dependent transitions. A recent comparison of these indicators by gender, race, and social class is also needed. Contemporary theories of social inequality fail to address the transition to adulthood as a distinct subject matter deserving attention (see England, 1993; Grusky, 1994; Howard & Hollander, 1997; Schwalbe, Godwin, Holden, Schrock, Thompson & Wolkomir, 2000). Instead, they focus on childhood experiences or socio-economic inequality in later adulthood. In contrast, the life course