Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Three Essays On Responsibility And The Transition To Adulthood In Comparative Perspective, Andrew Lee Breidenbach

Sociology ETDs

This hybrid dissertation examines three related topics on the concept of responsibility regarding adulthood and transitioning into this status: a) youth conceptions of responsibility for delayed home-leaving, b) the relationship between family responsibility and transition timing, and c) global conceptions of parental responsibilities to children. First, I find that youth typically see external, structural causes preventing earlier home-leaving over internal, more culturally-motivated causes leading individuals to prefer staying at home longer. Second, I find that total housework and specifically the “female-typical” interior work of cooking, cleaning and caring speeds up parenthood while delaying the achievement transitions of finishing school and …