The search for adolescent role exits and the transition to adulthood

Building on life-course, demographic, and deviance research literatures, we analyze the search for adolescent role exits and operationalize it through a LISREL measurement model. We use panel and cross-sectional survey data from a Canadian community to estimate models for the effects of adolescent role exits on the timing of first marriage and parenthood. Absence of control allows adolescents to search for role exits and the presence of strain pushes them toward such a search, the effects of which are most pronounced among females whose mothers experience unemployment For teenaged girls in these settings, early parenthood may be a constrained choice among restricted possibilities. Our findings from a predominantly white Canadian community suggest a generic process that is significant beyond its previous association with American ghetto settings.