Demographic Transformations, Structural Contexts, and Transitions to Adulthood

Abstract

This framing chapter focuses on young men of Latin American descent in the United States and on their transitions to adulthood in a context of major demographic and structural change. Following a discussion of societal contexts and transformations shaping adult transitions today, key characteristics of young Hispanic men and women age 18 to 34 are first contrasted against those of major non-Hispanic demographic groups (whites, blacks, Asians); the major Hispanic groups are then compared to each other (Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Central and South Americans and others); finally, differences among different generational cohorts of Latino men are examined, from the first to the second to the third-and-higher generations. Given their central significance to the population as a whole, Latino males can be considered a "strategic research site."