Interdependence and waithood: Exploration of family dynamics and young adults' life course trajectories in Pakistan

Abstract

Youth transitions to adulthood are increasingly characterized by delayed marriages, education and job disparities, and protracted financial dependency in Pakistan, engendering the phenomenon of “waithood.” This study poses the question: what are the effects of family dynamics and intergenerational relationships on the life course trajectories of Pakistani young adults in waithood, particularly in terms of education, career, marriage, gender roles, and societal influences? Employing a relational and intersectional perspective, we investigated the experiences of waithood among 30 youths (aged between 18 and 30 years) and 20 parents from various socioeconomic and regional backgrounds across Pakistan. Data collected through in-depth interviews elucidate how structural constraints, social expectations, and the intersections of class, place (rural-urban), and gender shape how youth experience waithood. For young females, there are enduring cultural pressures to marry early and to normatively perform domesticity, roles that can constrain women’s educational and employment trajectories. At the same time, male youth confront masculine anxieties stemming from societal expectations of conventional breadwinner roles. Under the pressure of economic dependence, opportunities vary considerably for them across different classes and regional locations. We found that youth consciously extend their identity exploration, particularly in upper-class urban strata, in stark contrast to disadvantaged rural youth for whom waithood suggests a compelled suspension of personal progression. Thus, by locating youth perspectives within linked lives and cultural contexts, our manuscript provides important insights into their diverse transitional experiences on pathways to adulthood in Pakistan's transforming opportunity landscape.