ABSTRACT
In recent decades, the wider economic and social forces ‘that have been destabilizing employment, gender, and age roles’ (Hendry et al., 2002: 1) have substantially altered the life-stage of youth. Across Europe, the transition between youth and adulthood has become ‘a long-drawn-out and unpredictable process’ (Iacovou and Berthoud, 2001: 1) as the typical ages at which young people cross thresholds into work, parenthood, their own accommodation and the like have risen. Indeed, incomplete transitions to some adult roles are increasingly common in the Western world.
