Measuring the Early Adult Life Course in Mexico: An Application of the Entropy Index

This research uses a new method of analyzing the demographic statuses of a synthetic cohort of Mexicans to examine how the life course has changed in Mexico during the past 30 years. I examine young people's statuses as students, workers, parents, spouses, and their position in the household using Mexican census data for 1970 and 2000. In doing so, I describe the stages of the early life course and the social institutions that structure each of these life stages. During this period there has been relatively little change in the timing of life stages and limited change in the statuses that structure each stage. The most significant changes have been the increase to nearly universal participation in education throughout childhood and early adolescence and the increase in women's employment during adulthood. Surprisingly, the age of first marriage and childbearing has not been significantly delayed during this period despite the substantial social change. Consequently, the structure of the life course for the majority of young people in 2000 is not much different from that of their parent's generation who came of age 30 years earlier despite dramatic economic and demographic changes that have occurred.