Transition to Adulthood in Brazil, 1970–2010: Explaining the Gap Between Men and Women Through Formal Demography

Matheus Menezes dos Santos , Cedeplar, UFMG
Bernardo L. Queiroz, Centro de Desenvolvimento e Planejamento Regional (CEDEPLAR)
Ana Paula Verona, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG)

Several studies have shown that the transition to adulthood in Brazil is different for both men and women. However, the lack of longitudinal surveys, ideal for studying transitions, does not allow an advance in the explanations of this differential. The purpose of this paper is to use the formal demographics framework to extract responses on transitions from cross-section surveys. Based on the traditional theoretical framework of the theme, a methodology was used to estimate transition rates to adulthood by event using the Brazilian census and use them to decompose the mean age gap following Arriaga (1984) method. The results show that there was a convergence of the transition pattern of men and women to adulthood in Brazil and that this is due to the higher proportion of women transiting through entering labor force to the detriment of events identified as Family formation.

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 Presented in Session 9. Marriage, Family, Households, & Unions; Gender, Race, & Ethnicity