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Longer to Launch: Demographic Changes in Life-Course Transitions

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Ways of Living
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Abstract

Since the late twentieth century, a new pattern has been witnessed in the life-course transitions of youth; it is one that is more prolonged and complex than it was a generation ago. Labelled as ‘longer to launch.’ the term refers to young people finishing their education, beginning their careers, and leaving their parents’ homes later in life. Their transitions are not necessarily a one-step linear process. Rather, due to the increasing ages of home-leaving and the increasing percentage of youth who return to the parental home (after an initial departure), the phenomenon is one that is more complex as the literature on the cluttered nest (versus the empty nest) informs us (see Boyd and Norris, 2000 and Mitchell, 2006a)

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Venne, R.A. (2010). Longer to Launch: Demographic Changes in Life-Course Transitions. In: Blyton, P., Blunsdon, B., Reed, K., Dastmalchian, A. (eds) Ways of Living. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230273993_4

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