JULIA A. GRABER

Discussion of Valerie K. Oppenheimer and Alisa Lewin,
"Career Development and Marriage Formation in a Period of
Rising Inequality: Who Is at Risk? What Are Their Prospects?"

Attainment of adult roles has often been measured in terms of five basic role
changes: finishing one's full-time education, starting full-time employment, liv-
ing independently from one's family of origin (with the assumption that one is
self-supporting), marrying, and having one's first child. Despite the fairly uni-
versal consideration of these events or transitions as central to defining the tran-
sition out of adolescence and into adulthood, less attention has focused on the
interconnections among these transitions. Clearly, the timing of entry into one
role will affect the likelihood or timing of entry into subsequent transitions (e.g.,
dropping out of high school is usually associated with earlier entry into the work
force). Oppenheimer and Lewin's chapter makes connections between the exit
from education and entry into the work force in order to predict the timing of
marriage using the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience,
Youth Cohorts. The approach taken is unique and insightful in its inclusion of
not only level of entry into work but also nature of the transition into work.
This approach will be discussed in terms of developmental issues and pertinence
of the approach to understanding young adult transitions for both men and
women. The second focus of the Oppenheimer and Lewin chapter, understand-
ing links between AFDC receipt and marriage or employability among young
adult African-American/black women, is too narrow. Hence, the present discus-
sion also considers the sequence of young adult role transitions and how the

-234-