Advances in Life Course Research最新文献

Unpaid caregiving across the lifespan and health outcomes in later life 整个生命周期的无偿照顾和晚年的健康结果。

IF 3.4 2区社会学 Q1 Medicine

Advances in Life Course Research

Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2025-12-19 DOI: 10.1016/j.alcr.2025.100722

Janecca A. Chin, I-Fen Lin

Unpaid caregiving for loved ones with health limitations is a common life course experience that often renders lasting health consequences. Yet few studies adopt a life course lens to examine how caregiving accumulates over time to shape health in later life. Most research treats caregiving as a discrete event confined to a single life stage, thereby obscuring its cumulative nature. Using retrospective caregiving histories in the 2017 and 2019 Life History Mail Survey, an off-wave supplement to the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this study identifies distinct lifespan caregiving profiles among 3194 ever-caregivers through latent class analysis, based on age at first care onset, recurrence, total duration, and overlap. Four profiles emerged: Compressed Caregivers (brief caregiving in later life), Early Enduring Caregivers (early and sustained caregiving), Recurrent Caregivers (multiple sequential caregiving episodes), and Immersed Caregivers (early, prolonged, and overlapping caregiving). Using HRS health measures, we assessed how these caregiving profiles relate to later-life health, stratified by gender. Compared with non-caregivers, women in the Immersed and Early Enduring profiles reported more chronic conditions, women in the Immersed profile experienced more depressive symptoms, and both women and men in the Compressed and Recurrent profiles showed lower odds of cognitive impairment. By linking lifespan caregiving patterns to multiple later-life health domains, this study highlights the importance of a cumulative life course perspective to understanding caregiving’s long-term health impacts. Findings underscore the need for tailored supports that account for caregivers’ diverse and accumulated experiences.

对有健康问题的亲人进行无偿照顾是一种常见的生命历程经历，往往会造成持久的健康后果。然而，很少有研究采用生命历程的视角来考察护理如何随着时间的推移而积累，从而影响晚年的健康。大多数研究将看护视为局限于单个生命阶段的离散事件，从而模糊了其累积性质。本研究利用2017年和2019年生活史邮件调查（健康与退休研究（HRS）的非正式补充）中的回顾性护理史，通过潜在类别分析，根据首次护理开始的年龄、复发、总持续时间和重叠，确定了3194名曾经照顾者的不同寿命护理概况。出现了四种类型：压缩照顾者（晚年短暂的照顾），早期持久照顾者（早期和持续的照顾），反复照顾者（多次连续的照顾事件）和浸入式照顾者（早期，长时间和重叠的照顾）。使用HRS健康测量，我们评估了这些护理概况与晚年健康的关系，并按性别分层。与非照顾者相比，沉浸型和早期持久型的女性报告了更多的慢性疾病，沉浸型的女性经历了更多的抑郁症状，而压缩型和复发型的女性和男性都表现出更低的认知障碍几率。通过将终身照护模式与多个晚年健康领域联系起来，本研究强调了累积生命历程视角对理解照护的长期健康影响的重要性。调查结果强调需要根据护理人员的不同和积累的经验提供量身定制的支持。

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引用次数: 0

Economic cycles and the transition to motherhood: Differentiation between natives without a migration background and children of immigrants 经济周期和向母性的转变：没有移民背景的本地人和移民子女之间的差异

IF 3.4 2区社会学 Q1 Medicine

Advances in Life Course Research

Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2025-11-20 DOI: 10.1016/j.alcr.2025.100710

Jonas Wood, Karel Neels, Leen Marynissen

While a large body of research addresses the influence of economic cycles on the transition to motherhood, limited attention has been given to the impact of economic conditions on first births for the children of immigrants. This study addresses this gap using population-wide longitudinal microdata for Belgium (1960–2010), combining hazard models and microsimulations to examine (1) whether the association between economic conditions and entry into parenthood varies between natives without a migration background and children of immigrants by parental origin, and (2) the extent to which annual shifts in the proportion of women entering parenthood (SPPR₁) in these different groups can be accounted for by variation in the aggregate-level unemployment rate. Findings reveal pro-cyclical fertility patterns among natives without a migration background and the children of European immigrants, who postpone childbearing during economic downturns, while the descendants of Turkish and Maghrebi migrants exhibit weaker responses, suggesting a “decoupling” of economic conditions from family formation. The association between unemployment rate and first birth hazards also varies by education level within the parental origin groups considered. Highly educated women delay parenthood in response to rising unemployment while lower-educated women exhibit higher first birth hazards during economic downturns, with particularly strong educational differentiation in children of Turkish immigrants. Such differentials by native-born women’s origin and level of education suggest that groups with structurally limited economic opportunities in the segmented Belgian labour market may consider motherhood as an alternative pathway to career development regardless of economic conditions.

虽然大量的研究涉及经济周期对向母亲过渡的影响，但对经济条件对移民子女第一次生育的影响的关注有限。本研究利用比利时人口纵向微观数据（1960-2010）解决了这一差距，结合危险模型和微观模拟来检验(1)经济条件与成为父母之间的关系是否在没有移民背景的本地人和父母出身的移民子女之间有所不同；(2)在这些不同群体中，进入父母行列的妇女比例（SPPR1）的年度变化在多大程度上可以用总体失业率的变化来解释。研究结果揭示了没有移民背景的本地人和欧洲移民的子女的顺周期生育模式，他们在经济衰退期间推迟生育，而土耳其和马格里布移民的后代表现出较弱的反应，这表明经济条件与家庭形成“脱钩”。失业率与初次生育危险之间的关系也因所考虑的父母原籍群体的教育水平而异。受教育程度高的妇女推迟生育以应对失业率上升，而受教育程度低的妇女在经济衰退期间表现出更高的首次生育风险，土耳其移民子女的教育差异尤其明显。本地出生妇女的出身和受教育程度的这种差别表明，在分割的比利时劳动力市场上，经济机会在结构上有限的群体可能会考虑做母亲作为职业发展的另一种途径，而不管经济条件如何。

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引用次数: 0

Spatial mobility and occupational status attainment in the transition from school to work in Germany 德国从学校到工作过渡中的空间流动性和职业地位获得。

IF 3.4 2区社会学 Q1 Medicine

Advances in Life Course Research

Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-16 DOI: 10.1016/j.alcr.2026.100728

Alexandra Wicht , Paula Protsch , Laura Menze , Katarina Weßling

This study investigates opportunities for occupational status attainment through spatial mobility in early stratification processes. We focus in particular on how this relationship is conditioned by young people’s occupational status aspirations as well as by institutional and local structural opportunities, thereby scrutinizing how spatial mobility may contribute to unequal career opportunities. Empirically, we analyze occupational status attainment in the transition from school to Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Germany. Using longitudinal data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) combined with fine-grained regional information, we show that young people who commute or relocate for a VET position are more likely to secure higher-status VET positions. Yet spatial mobility is only associated with higher occupational status attainment among young people with higher levels of occupational status aspirations, among those originating from structurally weak regions, and among those with at least intermediate secondary school-leaving certificates. We conclude that spatial mobility can enable young people to overcome regional disadvantages, functioning as an agentic strategy for pursuing occupational goals more effectively. At the same time, it tends to widen status differentials between socially stratified educational groups and remains shaped by local structural opportunities.

本研究探讨了在早期分层过程中，通过空间流动获得职业地位的机会。我们特别关注这种关系如何受到年轻人职业地位愿望以及制度和地方结构机会的制约，从而审视空间流动性如何导致职业机会不平等。实证分析了德国从学校到职业教育与培训（VET）转型过程中职业地位的获得情况。利用来自德国国家教育小组研究（NEPS）的纵向数据，结合细粒度的区域信息，我们表明，为了职业教育职位而通勤或搬迁的年轻人更有可能获得更高地位的职业教育职位。然而，空间流动性只与职业地位渴望程度较高的年轻人、来自结构薄弱地区的年轻人以及至少拥有中级中学毕业证书的年轻人的职业地位获得程度较高有关。我们的结论是，空间流动可以使年轻人克服区域劣势，更有效地发挥追求职业目标的代理策略的作用。与此同时，它往往扩大了社会分层教育群体之间的地位差异，并仍然受到地方结构机会的影响。

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引用次数: 0

Parent-child mismatches in educational aspirations: Prevalence, stability, and convergence over time 亲子教育抱负的不匹配：普遍性、稳定性和随时间的趋同。

IF 3.4 2区社会学 Q1 Medicine

Advances in Life Course Research

Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-01-31 DOI: 10.1016/j.alcr.2026.100725

Jascha Dräger , Kaspar Burger

Life-course scholarship has documented the important role of educational aspirations in status attainment processes but has also revealed that parent-child mismatches in educational aspirations may negatively affect child development. However, it is unclear how parent-child mismatches in educational aspirations evolve over time. Here, we examine (1) the prevalence of mismatching aspirations across school grades 3–9 (ages 8–15), (2) their stability over time, and (3) whether converging aspirations tend to converge to parents’ or to children’s aspirations. We also investigate (4) whether parent-child mismatches in aspirations depend on the opportunities that a child is afforded in an education system that sorts pupils into distinct tracks, thus shaping educational trajectories and final educational attainment. We use data from two German National Educational Panel Study cohorts (“kindergarten cohort”: N = 4217; “5th grade cohort”: N = 3908). Findings indicate that in school grade 3, 30 % of parent-child dyads have mismatching aspirations; this percentage shrinks to 14–22 % across grades 4–9. Mismatching aspirations are relatively instable, indeed much less stable over time than matching aspirations. Among younger children, aspirations mostly converge to their parents’ aspirations. Among older children, aspirations tend to converge in both directions. We also find that parent-child mismatches in aspirations vary considerably according to the educational track that the child ends up attending in secondary school. We conclude that parents and children incorporate the educational opportunities afforded to the child into their aspirations; aspiration mismatches evolve over time and as a result of institutional influences.

终身学术研究已经证明了教育愿望在地位获得过程中的重要作用，但也揭示了教育愿望的亲子不匹配可能对儿童发展产生负面影响。然而，目前尚不清楚父母与孩子在教育愿望上的不匹配是如何随着时间的推移而演变的。在这里，我们研究了(1)3-9年级（8-15岁）的不匹配期望的普遍程度，(2)它们随时间的稳定性，以及(3)趋同的期望是否倾向于与父母或孩子的愿望趋同。我们还调查了(4)父母与孩子在抱负上的不匹配是否取决于孩子在教育系统中获得的机会，这种教育系统将学生分为不同的轨道，从而塑造了教育轨迹和最终的教育成就。我们使用两个德国国家教育小组研究队列的数据（“幼儿园队列”：N = 4217；“五年级队列”：N = 3908）。结果表明：小学3年级，30 %的亲子对存在不匹配的愿望；这一比例在4-9年级缩小到14- 22% %。不匹配的愿望相对不稳定，实际上比匹配的愿望更不稳定。在年幼的孩子中，他们的志向大多与父母的志向一致。在年龄较大的孩子中，志向往往会向两个方向靠拢。我们还发现，根据孩子最终在中学就读的教育轨道，亲子在抱负上的不匹配差异很大。我们的结论是，父母和孩子将提供给孩子的教育机会纳入他们的愿望；愿望错配会随着时间的推移和制度的影响而演变。

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引用次数: 0

The impact of educational and work trajectories on wellbeing in midlife: A comparison of Canada and Germany 教育和工作轨迹对中年幸福感的影响：加拿大和德国的比较

IF 3.4 2区社会学 Q1 Medicine

Advances in Life Course Research

Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2025-11-25 DOI: 10.1016/j.alcr.2025.100712

Johanna Turgetto , Janine Jongbloed , Wolfgang Lauterbach , Lesley Andres

This study employs longitudinal data from Germany and Canada to investigate how patterns of education, employment and care work influence wellbeing in midlife and how these patterns differ by gender and national context. Although previous research has addressed wellbeing at different life stages, it has rarely examined long-term effects across gendered life trajectories within contrasting welfare state contexts. We conduct separate analyses for men and women using partial proportional odds models (PPO) to estimate wellbeing levels. The models include clusters of educational and employment trajectories, along with socio-demographic variables that capture individual and family contexts known to affect wellbeing. Our results extend prior research demonstrating that education and employment trajectories shape midlife wellbeing, with associations varying by gender and country. Our analyses illustrate that Canadian women are able to draw benefits from part-time work, whereas for German women no consistent associations emerge once family-centred factors are considered. Among German men, wellbeing seems to be shaped primarily by household income, while for Canadian men good health is significantly associated with wellbeing. Our study underscores how gendered life course patterns continue to influence wellbeing and how welfare state regularities reinforce these inequalities. We conclude with a critical reflection on the compatibility of work and family life and its implications for wellbeing among women and men.

本研究采用来自德国和加拿大的纵向数据来调查教育、就业和护理工作模式如何影响中年幸福感，以及这些模式如何因性别和国家背景而不同。虽然以前的研究已经解决了不同人生阶段的幸福感，但很少研究在不同福利国家背景下，性别生活轨迹的长期影响。我们使用部分比例赔率模型（PPO）对男性和女性进行了单独的分析，以估计健康水平。这些模型包括教育和就业轨迹的集群，以及捕捉已知影响幸福感的个人和家庭背景的社会人口变量。我们的研究结果扩展了先前的研究，表明教育和就业轨迹影响中年幸福感，其关联因性别和国家而异。我们的分析表明，加拿大妇女能够从兼职工作中获益，而对于德国妇女来说，一旦考虑到以家庭为中心的因素，就没有一致的联系。在德国男性中，幸福感似乎主要受家庭收入的影响，而对加拿大男性来说，良好的健康状况与幸福感密切相关。我们的研究强调了性别化的生命历程模式如何继续影响幸福感，以及福利国家的规律如何加剧了这些不平等。最后，我们对工作和家庭生活的兼容性及其对女性和男性福祉的影响进行了批判性反思。

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引用次数: 0

Inequalities in early childcare strategies: Evidence from Dutch administrative data 早期儿童保育策略中的不平等：来自荷兰行政数据的证据。

IF 3.4 2区社会学 Q1 Medicine

Advances in Life Course Research

Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-22 DOI: 10.1016/j.alcr.2026.100727

Tom Emery

This study examines whether the well-documented socioeconomic gradient in formal childcare use is reflected in the timing, sequencing, and stability of childcare and employment strategies following the critical life course transition to parenthood. While higher-SES parents are consistently more likely to use formal childcare, the reasons for this disparity remain poorly understood principally due to data limitations and the complexity of household dynamics. Drawing on linked Dutch administrative data (2010–2019), we use multichannel sequence analysis to identify distinct “childcare strategies” across the first four years of children’s lives, capturing monthly trajectories of formal childcare use and parental employment. A subsequent multinomial regression models the association between these strategies and socioeconomic status. The results reveal wide variation in the stability, intensity, and timing of formal childcare use, closely intertwined with maternal employment patterns. Children from lower-SES households are more likely to experience complex, fragmented, and fragile childcare trajectories—characterized by delayed entry, irregular usage, and lower alignment with stable employment—confirming and extending findings from prior qualitative research. By quantifying these patterns across a full population cohort, the study demonstrates how childcare complexity itself reflects and reinforces broader social inequalities. We conclude that childcare policies must move beyond affordability to address accessibility, stability, and administrative complexity—particularly for parents with low incomes, precarious jobs, or self-employment.

本研究考察了有充分记录的正规托儿服务使用的社会经济梯度是否反映在关键生命过程过渡到为人父母后的托儿服务和就业策略的时间、顺序和稳定性上。虽然较高的社会经济地位的父母始终更有可能使用正规的托儿服务，但这种差异的原因仍然知之甚少，主要是由于数据的限制和家庭动态的复杂性。根据相关的荷兰行政数据（2010-2019年），我们使用多渠道序列分析来确定儿童生命头四年中不同的“托儿策略”，捕捉正式托儿服务使用和父母就业的月度轨迹。随后的多项回归模型分析了这些策略与社会经济地位之间的关系。研究结果显示，正规托儿服务的稳定性、强度和使用时间存在很大差异，这与母亲的就业模式密切相关。来自社会经济地位较低家庭的儿童更有可能经历复杂、碎片化和脆弱的育儿轨迹——其特点是入学时间延迟、使用不规律、与稳定就业的一致性较低——证实并扩展了先前定性研究的发现。通过对整个人口队列的这些模式进行量化，该研究表明，育儿复杂性本身如何反映并强化了更广泛的社会不平等。我们的结论是，儿童保育政策必须超越可负担性，解决可及性、稳定性和管理复杂性问题，特别是对低收入、不稳定工作或自营职业的父母。

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引用次数: 0

Young adult life courses in the Global South: A comparative framework and research agenda 全球南方的青年生命历程：比较框架和研究议程

IF 3.4 2区社会学 Q1 Medicine

Advances in Life Course Research

Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2025-12-18 DOI: 10.1016/j.alcr.2025.100723

Anette Eva Fasang , Ignacio Cabib , Adam Cooper , Rob J. Gruijters , Yang Hu

As of 2025, 85% of the world population lives in countries typically associated with the Global South. Fifty percent of the world’s population is under age 30. This article introduces the special issue on “Young Adult Life Courses in the Global South.” It aims to provide a conceptual entry point for globally comparative research on young adult life courses. We systematize and contextualize key insights from the twelve contributions to this special issue, which were selected through an open call, on 1) relevant macro-structural conditions for young adult life courses in the Global South, 2) conceptualizing adulthood processes, including implications for young adults’ agency. Based on the contributions to this special issue, we propose a comparative framework that focuses on the locally specific interplay between economic, normative, and temporal conditions for navigating social adulthood. Second, we summarize the authors’ critiques of established concepts of young adulthood and highlight alternative conceptualizations that they employ, including their implications for young adults’ agency. We close by outlining avenues for future research for a globally comparative research agenda on young adult life courses.

截至2025年，85%的世界人口生活在通常与全球南方有关的国家。世界上50%的人口年龄在30岁以下。这篇文章介绍了“全球南方青年生活课程”的特刊。它的目的是为青年生命历程的全球比较研究提供一个概念切入点。我们将通过公开征集选出的本期特刊的12篇文章中的关键见解系统化并置于背景中，内容涉及：1)全球南方国家年轻人生命历程的相关宏观结构条件；2)成年过程的概念化，包括对年轻人主体的影响。基于对本期特刊的贡献，我们提出了一个比较框架，该框架侧重于经济、规范和时间条件之间的本地特定相互作用，以引导社会成年。其次，我们总结了作者对青年成人既定概念的批评，并强调了他们采用的其他概念，包括他们对年轻人能动性的影响。最后，我们概述了未来青年生活课程全球比较研究议程的研究途径。

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引用次数: 0

Work-family life course and depressive symptoms in later life among Chinese middle-age and older adults 中国中老年人工作-家庭生活历程与晚年抑郁症状

IF 3.4 2区社会学 Q1 Medicine

Advances in Life Course Research

Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-24 DOI: 10.1016/j.alcr.2026.100729

Hongzhou Chen

Previous research has documented the co-occurrence of work and family instability across the life course, but this pattern may not apply to China, where work trajectories have diversified while family patterns remain largely stable. Using retrospective life-course histories (2014) linked to nine-year longitudinal follow-up data (2011–2020), multilevel regression models were estimated to examine how work–family trajectories shape later-life depressive symptoms. Nine distinct trajectories were identified, ranging from lifelong agricultural work with high fertility to modern patterns of non-agricultural employment, later partnerships, and fewer children. A work-anchored cumulative disadvantage was observed: agricultural workers with polarized family trajectories—either early partnership with high fertility or non-normative family patterns—faced higher risks of depressive symptoms than those in non-agricultural and lower-fertility groups. Agricultural women with higher fertility were especially vulnerable, exhibiting elevated depressive symptoms that persisted over time. These findings suggest that policy efforts should focus on rural women with high fertility and individuals in involuntary non-normative family pathways to reduce mental health disparities in later life.

以前的研究记录了在整个生命过程中工作和家庭不稳定的共同出现，但这种模式可能不适用于中国，中国的工作轨迹多样化，而家庭模式基本保持稳定。利用回顾性生命历程（2014年）与9年纵向随访数据（2011-2020年）相关联，估计了多水平回归模型，以检验工作-家庭轨迹如何影响晚年抑郁症状。研究确定了九种不同的发展轨迹，从高生育率的终身农业工作到现代非农业就业模式、较晚的伴侣关系和较少的子女。一个以工作为基础的累积劣势被观察到：与非农业和低生育率群体相比，具有两极化家庭轨迹的农业工人——要么是与高生育率的早期伙伴关系，要么是不规范的家庭模式——面临着更高的抑郁症状风险。生育能力较高的农业妇女尤其容易受到影响，她们的抑郁症状会随着时间的推移而加剧。这些发现表明，政策努力应侧重于高生育率的农村妇女和非自愿非规范家庭路径的个人，以减少晚年的心理健康差距。

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引用次数: 0

Sex-specific trajectories of mental health and life satisfaction during the transition to grandparenthood in China 中国向祖父母转变过程中心理健康和生活满意度的性别特征轨迹

IF 3.4 2区社会学 Q1 Medicine

Advances in Life Course Research

Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-04 DOI: 10.1016/j.alcr.2026.100726

Jiyang Chen

Despite the widespread experience of grandparenthood in later life, limited research has examined how subjective well-being evolves across the transition to grandparenthood over an extended period. Drawing on five waves of data from the China Family Panel Studies (2012–2022), this study applies a life-course approach to investigate sex-specific trajectories of emotional (i.e., mental health) and evaluative (i.e., life satisfaction) well-being from the pre-transition years through the birth of the first grandchild and into the early years of grandparenthood, as well as heterogeneity across key sociodemographic subgroups. Using fixed-effects models with discrete-time trends, four key patterns emerge. First, women show short- to mid-term improvements in emotional well-being beginning in the birth year, though estimates become less precise in later years and are weaker among non-coresident women. Second, men exhibit sustained increases in evaluative well-being from the birth year through six years afterward, with limited subgroup variation. Third, anticipatory associations are generally absent for both sexes. Fourth, unmarried women display larger well-being improvements than married women, whereas other moderators show minimal influence. Robustness checks indicate that these longitudinal patterns are unlikely to be driven by attrition bias, reverse causality, spurious temporal correlations, or omitted variables. Overall, the findings demonstrate that grandparenthood has sex-differentiated associations with well-being in contemporary China and stress the importance of gendered family roles and cultural expectations for understanding this transition and supporting active and healthy aging.

尽管在以后的生活中普遍有做祖父母的经历，但有限的研究已经调查了在很长一段时间内，主观幸福感是如何在过渡到做祖父母的过程中演变的。利用中国家庭小组研究（2012-2022）的五波数据，本研究采用生命历程方法调查了从过渡前几年到第一个孙子的出生，再到祖父母的早期，情感（即心理健康）和评估（即生活满意度）幸福感的性别特定轨迹，以及关键社会人口亚组的异质性。使用具有离散时间趋势的固定效应模型，出现了四个关键模式。首先，从出生那年开始，女性在情绪健康方面表现出短期到中期的改善，尽管在以后的岁月里，这种估计变得不那么精确，而且在非总统女性中表现得更弱。其次，男性从出生年份到6年后的评估幸福感持续增长，亚组差异有限。第三，两性通常都不存在预期联想。第四，未婚女性比已婚女性表现出更大的幸福感改善，而其他调节因素的影响微乎其微。稳健性检查表明，这些纵向模式不太可能由损耗偏差、反向因果关系、虚假的时间相关性或遗漏的变量驱动。总体而言，研究结果表明，在当代中国，祖父母身份与幸福感存在性别差异，并强调了性别家庭角色和文化期望对理解这一转变和支持积极健康老龄化的重要性。

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引用次数: 0

Variation in employment inequality between workers with vocational and general education over the career 受过职业教育和普通教育的工人在整个职业生涯中就业不平等的差异。

IF 3.4 2区社会学 Q1 Medicine

Advances in Life Course Research

Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-03 DOI: 10.1016/j.alcr.2026.100724

Viktor Decker

Vocational education is often credited with easing school-to-work transitions but may come with late-career disadvantages due to faster skill obsolescence. Previous findings on this “career trade-off” remain inconsistent restricting policy guidance. This study argues that inconsistencies are primarily rooted in (1) variation in the categorization of educational tracks and (2) differences in institutional context across countries. Two theoretical claims are tested: first, that career disparities between vocational and general education are larger at the secondary than at the tertiary level; second, that the career trade-off is more pronounced in countries with higher vocational specificity. Analyzing over one million person-year observations from harmonized cross-national panel data covering Australia, Germany, South Korea, Switzerland, and the UK indicates that the career trade-off is context-dependent. Late-career disadvantages for vocational graduates appear predominantly at the tertiary level; at the secondary level, vocational graduates often have equal or better employment prospects than general graduates over the career. This suggests that benefits associated with general education are likely confined to those with higher-level qualifications. Comparing employment trajectories across countries reveals a mixed picture challenging the explanatory power of vocational specificity as a macro-level moderator of career differences between types of graduates. Taken together, these findings call for a reassessment of the role of skill specificity in shaping employment disparities over the life course.

职业教育通常被认为可以缓解从学校到工作的过渡，但由于技能过时的速度更快，职业生涯后期可能会有缺点。先前关于这种“职业权衡”的研究结果仍然不一致，限制了政策指导。本研究认为，不一致性主要源于(1)教育轨迹分类的差异和(2)各国制度背景的差异。本文检验了两个理论观点：第一，中等职业教育和普通教育之间的职业差异比高等教育更大；第二，职业取舍在职业专一性较高的国家更为明显。对来自澳大利亚、德国、韩国、瑞士和英国等国的统一跨国面板数据的100多万人年观察结果的分析表明，职业权衡与环境有关。职业毕业生在职业生涯后期的劣势主要出现在高等教育阶段；在中等水平，职业毕业生在职业生涯中往往与普通毕业生有同等或更好的就业前景。这表明，通识教育的好处可能仅限于那些拥有更高学历的人。比较各国的就业轨迹揭示了一个复杂的图景，挑战了职业特异性作为不同类型毕业生之间职业差异的宏观调节因素的解释能力。综上所述，这些发现要求重新评估技能特异性在一生中形成就业差异的作用。

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引用次数: 0