Growing up in Vietnam: Mass Mobilization, Modernization, and Trends in Transition to Adulthood

Puk Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, Population Council

Over half of the Vietnamese population today was born after the American war (1965-1975). They are growing up harboring aspirations and leading a lifestyle unknown to their parents who have lived through wartime and socialist regime. Despite the claims about contrasting pathways to adulthood between the past and present generations, there are few studies that document intergenerational patterns of transition to adulthood. Based on the Vietnam Longitudinal Survey, this study examines changes in early life course transitions in Vietnam – comparing the wartime generations with the younger cohorts who entered adulthood in the 1980s and 1990s. I assess the cohort patterns for each marker of transition to adulthood and examine the interrelations between timing of these markers. I also identify social structural conditions and historical events that produce these changes. I hope to contribute to the construction of a life course theory of the determinants and consequences of transition to adulthood for societies undergoing war.