This is a proposal to study how characteristics of communities influence the occurrence and timing of several dimensions of the transition to adulthood, for example the decision to get married, and to have the first child. The study will focus in particular on the relationship between out-of- wedlock childbearing and the relative availability of marriage partners in a community, and on the degree to which community characteristics can account for racial and ethnic differences in the transition to adulthood. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) will be linked with data for counties and metropolitan areas from the Census and other sources. Event history models will be estimated to determine the impact of the community level variables on the transition to adulthood. This study will provide a valuable contribution to a large literature on the transition to adulthood in American society. Its unique contribution will be to shed light on how the communities in which young people live may affect the choices and decisions they make early in life in particular with respect to decisions about childbearing, marriage, and sexual activity.
