From School to Work, from Child to Parent
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Researcher, Institute of International and Social Studies, Tallinn University
The author has concentrated on two significant changes in the life of a young person: the transfer from the education system to the labour market, and becoming a parent instead of being someone’s child.
During the last decades, the young people of Estonia have started to join the labour market at a remarkably later age than before. The age of starting a relationship and becoming a parent has also risen. The data analysis that centred on reaching adulthood showed how Estonian young people transfer from the education system to the labour market and become parents. An important finding is the so-called emerging adulthood that occurs around 20 years of age. This is the stage in life when most young people are enjoying all the rights and freedoms, but are not yet bound by work relations or obligations connected to bringing up children. This relatively obligation-free time provides young people with the possibility to get to know themselves and evolve. Those who become parents at a young age cannot grant themselves a similar period of self-cognition. A category apart is formed by the young people who neither study nor work.