Destandardization in later age spans in Western Germany: Evidence from sequence analysis of family life courses

Prior research has suggested that destandardization is a phenomenon that does not affect all aspects of the life course uniformly. There is, however, no existing evidence from a holistic perspective that different life phases are affected by destandardization differently, even though this is likely to be the case in light of prior research on the pluralization of living arrangements and the destandardization of life course events. This question is particularly salient in the German context, as previous research has shown that standardization has characterized the early life phases in Germany, whereas destandardization has been dominant in many other European countries. Analyses of family life courses in Western Germany using data from the National Educational Panel Survey (NEPS) provide evidence that both postponement and the increasing diversity of union types cause destandardization in later life phases, and that this process is most pronounced during the phase in which individuals often start a family (i.e., in their early thirties). Overall, these findings suggest that the comparative analysis of destandardization in different age spans can help to provide a comprehensive picture of life course change.