Abstract Transitions to adulthood represent a sensitive period for setting young people into particular life course trajectories, and the nature of these transitions have varied more for girls, historically, than for boys. We aim to investigate the long-term significance of different transitions out of full-time education for socioeconomic attainment in later life amongst postwar young women in England. Our data are from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing for girls born during World War II and the post-war period (1939–1952, n = 1798). Using sequence analysis, we identified six types of transition out of full-time education between ages 14 and 26: Early-Work, Mid-Work, Late-Work, Early-Domestic, Late-Domestic, and Part-time Mixed. We used linear and multinomial regression models to examine associations between transition types and socioeconomic attainment outcomes from age 50, including individual income, household income and wealth, and occupational class. Our study found that later transitions into employment (Mid-Work and Late-Work) were associated with higher socioeconomic attainment after age 50 compared with women who made early transitions from education to employment (Early-Work); much of the advantage of making later transitions to employment was due to higher educational attainment. We also found that early transitions to domestic work (Early-Domestic) set young women onto trajectories of lower socioeconomic attainment than compared with those who made early transitions to employment, suggesting the nature of the transition from full-time education is as important as the timing, perhaps uniquely for women. A pathway of cumulative advantage/disadvantage is also evident in our study; results suggest a partial mediating role for educational attainment in associations between childhood social class and later life socioeconomic attainment.

中文翻译：

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女孩向成年的过渡及其晚年社会经济成就：英国老龄化纵向研究的结果

摘要 向成年期的过渡是将年轻人置于特定人生轨迹的敏感时期，从历史上看，与男孩相比，这些过渡的性质对于女孩来说变化更大。我们的目标是调查英国战后年轻女性从全日制教育到晚年社会经济成就的不同转变的长期意义。我们的数据来自针对二战期间和战后时期出生的女孩的英国老龄化纵向研究（1939-1952，n = 1798）。使用序列分析，我们确定了 14 至 26 岁之间从全日制教育过渡的六种类型：早期工作、中期工作、晚期工作、早期家庭教育、晚期家庭教育和兼职混合。我们使用线性和多项回归模型来检验过渡类型与 50 岁以来的社会经济成就结果之间的关联，包括个人收入、家庭收入和财富以及职业等级。我们的研究发现，与提前从教育过渡到就业（早期工作）的女性相比，较晚过渡到就业（工作中期和后期工作）与 50 岁以后更高的社会经济成就相关；较晚过渡到就业的大部分优势是由于较高的教育程度。我们还发现，与那些提前过渡到就业的人相比，较早过渡到家政工作 (Early-Domestic) 会使年轻女性走上社会经济成就较低的轨迹，表明从全日制教育过渡的性质与时机一样重要，也许对女性来说是独一无二的。在我们的研究中，累积优势/劣势的途径也很明显；结果表明，受教育程度在童年社会阶层与晚年社会经济成就之间的关联中起着部分中介作用。