Abstract
The major changes of the transition to adulthood are argued to be stressful, and health-related behaviors such as smoking and physical activity may be adopted, consolidated, or abandoned at this time. On the other hand, research has suggested that the normative transitions of emerging adulthood, although involving considerable change, may be associated with low stress because they are perceived as both positive and normal at this life stage. This article examines relations between the timing and sequencing of life transitions and stress and health-related behaviors, focusing on the transition to young adulthood among Australian women. A total of 853 women aged 22 to 27 provided information about the timing and sequencing of 6 life transitions: moving out of home, stopping full-time education, starting full-time work, having the first live-in relationship, marriage, and motherhood—and stress, smoking, and physical activity. Most had moved out of home, stopped full-time education, and started full-time work, but only 14% had undertaken all 6 transitions. Overall, 70% of participants had made transitions “in order.” Overall, the findings suggest that the relations between timing and sequencing of transitions, and indicators of health, are moderate for smoking, but small for stress and for physical activity. These effects remained after controlling for socioeconomic status of the participants’families of origin. Matching current social norms for the timing and sequencing of life changes may be of less importance for women’s well-being than is commonly believed. Although the significant relations between early or “out of order” transitions and smoking are of concern, the smaller relations with stress and with sedentariness suggest that such transitions may have limited negative consequences, and support the view that individuals are active in choosing the life path that is appropriate for them and their circumstances.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agresti, A. (1996). An introduction to categorical data analysis. New York: Wiley.
Aiken, L. R. (1998). Human development in adulthood. New York: Plenum.
Armstrong, T., Bauman, A., & Davies, J. (2000). Physical activity patterns of Australian adults: Results of the 1999 national physical activity survey. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Arnett, J. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55, 469–480.
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (1997). Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO): Catalogue No. 1220.0 (2nd ed.). Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2002). Australian social trends 2002. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2004). Age of women giving birth now older than ever. Retrieved April 21, 2005, from http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@ .nsf/e5cb0b45f4547cc4ca25697500217f47/fe3e4e3df8389321 ca256de1008030c0!OpenDocument
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2005). Demography, Australia, 2003. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (1997). National health data dictionary, Version 6.0: Standard questions on the use of tobacco among adults. Canberra: Author.
Baltes, P. B. (1987). Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology: On the dynamics between growth and decline. Developmental Psychology, 23, 611–626.
Baranowski, T., Cullen, K. W., Basen-Engquist, K., Wetter, D. W., Cummings, S., Martineau, D. S., et al. (1997). Transitions out of high school: Time of increased cancer risk? Preventive Medicine, 26, 694–703.
Bell, S., & Lee, C. (2002). Development of the perceived stress questionnaire for young women. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 7, 189–201.
Bell, S., & Lee, C. (2003). Perceived stress revisited: The Women’s Health Australia project young cohort. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 8(3), 343–353.
Bell, S., & Lee, C. (2005). Emerging adulthood and patterns of physical activity among young Australian women. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 12, 227–235.
Bell, S., & Lee, C. (in press). Transitions in emerging adulthood and stress among young Australian women. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine.
Brown, W., & Bauman, A. (2000). Comparison of estimates of population levels of physical activity using two measures. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 24, 520–525.
Brown, W., Bryson, L., Byles, J., Dobson, A., Lee, C., Mishra, G., et al. (1998). Women’s Health Australia: Recruitment for a national longitudinal cohort study. Women and Health, 28, 23–40.
Burke, V., Giangiulio, N., Gillam, H. F., Beilin, L. J., Houghton, S., & Milligan, R. A. K. (1999). Health promotion in couples adapting to a shared lifestyle. Health Education Research, 14, 269–290.
Caspersen, C. J., Pereira, M. A., & Curran, K. M. (2000). Changes in physical activity patterns in the United States, by sex and cross-sectional age. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 32, 1601–1609.
Chassin, L., Presson, C. C., Rose, J. S., & Sherman, S. J. (1996). The natural history of cigarette smoking from adolescence to adult hood: Demographic predictors of continuity and change. Health Psychology, 15, 478–484.
Dickson, R., Fullerton, D., Eastwood, A., Sheldon, T., & Sharp, F. (1997). Preventing and reducing the adverse effects of unintended teenage pregnancy. Effective Health Care Bulletin (Vol. 3, No. 1). York, England: Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, York University.
Dornbusch, S. M. (2000). Transitions from adolescence: A discussion of seven articles. Journal of Adolescent Research, 15, 173–177.
Elder, G. H. J. (1974). Children of the great depression. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Elder, G. H. J. (1994). Time, human agency, and social change: Perspectives on the life course. Social Psychological Quarterly, 57, 4–15.
Elder, G. H. J. (1998). The life course as developmental theory. Child Development, 69, 1–12.
Elder, G. H. J., George, L. K., & Shanahan, M. J. (1996). Psychosocial stress over the life course. In H. B. Kaplan (Ed.), Psychosocial stress: Perspectives on structure, theory, life-course, and methods (pp. 247-292). San Diego, CA: Academic.
Gee, E. M. (1990). Preferred timing of women’s life events: A Canadian study. International Journal of Aging & Human Development, 31, 279–294.
George, L. K. (1993). Sociological perspectives on life transitions. Annual Review of Sociology, 19, 353–373.
George, L. K. (1996). Missing links: The case for a social psychology of the life course. The Gerontologist, 36, 248–255.
Gwatkin, D. R. (2000). Health inequalities and the health of the poor: What do we know? What can we do? Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 78(1), 3–18.
Harley, C., & Mortimer, J. T. (2000). Markers of transition to adulthood, socioeconomic status of origin, and trajectories of health. Annals of New York Academy of Sciences, 896, 367–369.
Hetherington, E. M., & Baltes, P. B. (1988). Child psychology and life-span development. In E. M. Hetherington, R. M. Lerner, & M. Perlmutter (Eds.), Child development in life-span perspective (pp. 1–20). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Hogan, D. P. (1981). Transitions and social change: The early lives of American men. New York: Academic.
Huurre, T., Aro, H., & Rahkonen, O. (2003). Well-being and health behaviour by parental socioeconomic status: A follow-up study of adolescents aged 16 until 32 years. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 38, 249–255.
Jackson, P. B. (2004). Role sequencing: Does order matter for mental health? Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 45, 132–154.
Lee, C., Dobson, A. J., Brown, W. J., Bryson, L., Byles, J., Warner-Smith, P., et al. (2005). Cohort profile: The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. International Journal of Epidemiology, 34, 1093–1098.
Lee, C., & Gramotnev, H. (in press). Predictors and outcomes of early motherhood in the Australian longitudinal study on women’s health. Psychology, Health & Medicine.
Leslie, E., Fotheringham, M. J., Owen, N., & Bauman, A. (2001). Age-related differences in physical activity levels of young adults.Medicine & Science in Sports& Exercise, 33, 255–258.
Leslie, E., Owen, N., Salmon, J., Bauman, A., Sallis, J. F., & Kai Lo, S. (1999). Insufficiently active Australian college students: Perceived personal, social, and environmental influences. Preventive Medicine, 28, 20–27.
Levinson, D. J. (1978). The seasons of a man’s life. New York: Knopf.
Marini, M. M. (1985). Determinants of the timing of adult role entry. Social Science Research, 14, 309–350.
Martinez, M. E., Reid, M., Jiang, R., Einspahr, J., & Alberts, D. S. (2004). Accuracy of self-reported smoking status among partic ipants in a chemoprevention trial. Preventive Medicine, 38, 492–497.
McDermott, L., Dobson, A., & Russell, A. (2004). Changesinsmoking behaviour among young women over life stage transitions. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 28, 330–335.
Neugarten, B. L., Moore, J. W., & Lowe, J. C. (1965). Age norms, age constraints and adult socialization. American Journal of Sociology, 70, 710–717.
Neugarten, B. L., & Neugarten, D. A. (1986). Age in the aging society. Daedalus, 115, 31–49.
Perry, C. L. (1999). Cardiovascular disease preventions among youth: Visioning the future. Preventive Medicine, 29, S79–83.
Prohaska, T. R., & Clark, M. A. (1997). Health behavior and the human life cycle. In D. S. Gochman (Ed.), Handbook of health behavior research, Vol. 3: Demography, development, and diversity (pp. 29–48). New York: Plenum.
Ravanera, Z. R., Rajulton, F., & Burch, T. K. (1998). Early life transitions of Canadian women: A cohort analysis of timing, sequences, and variations. European Journal of Population, 14, 179–204.
Rindfuss, R. R., Swicegood, C. G., & Rosenfeld, R. A. (1987). Disorder in the life course: How common and does it matter? American Sociological Review, 52, 785–801.
Rook, K. S., Catalano, R., & Dooley, D. (1989). The timing of major life events: Effects of departing from the social clock. American Journal of Community Psychology, 17, 233–259.
Rossow, I., & Rise, J. (1993). Living arrangements and health behaviors in adolescence and young adulthood. Health Education Research, 8, 495–503.
Tudor-Locke, C., Williams, J. E., Reis, J. P., & Pluto, D. (2002). Utility of pedometers for assessing physical activity: convergent validity. Sports Medicine, 32, 795–808.
Williams, P. G., Holmbeck, G. N., & Greenley, R. N. (2002). Adolescent health psychology. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 70, 828–842.
Yamaguchi, K., & Kandel, D. B. (1985). On the resolution of role incompatibility: A life event history analysis of family roles and marijuana use. American Journal of Sociology, 90, 1284–1325.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bell, S., Lee, C. Does timing and sequencing of transitions to adulthood make a difference? stress, smoking, and physical activity among young australian women. Int. J. Behav. Med. 13, 265–274 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm1303_11
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327558ijbm1303_11