Education systems as life course policies? The example of subnational educational regimes and young adults’ family transitions

Abstract

This study investigates the role of subnational educational opportunities for three typical transitions in young adulthood: 1) leaving the parental home, 2) starting to cohabit and 3) becoming a parent. Educational opportunities shape young adults’ life courses as they facilitate the accumulation of human capital, labour market entry and financial independence. Education systems and opportunities are part of transition regimes shaped by the specific cultural, economic and policy characteristics of a (subnational) context, and are thus likely to affect moving out and family formation. Drawing on the example of Switzerland with its large cantonal variation in educational opportunities, we use longitudinal data from the TREE panel study to follow a cohort of young adults born in the mid-1980s from ages 16 to 29. Event history models show that larger shares of young people in vocational education at a cantonal level are associated with earlier moving out and parenthood, but later partnership formation. The influence of vocational opportunities is moderated by the presence of a university in the canton.