Transitions to sexual, marital and reproductive life in Latin America. An analysis of its generational sequences and variations

Julieta Quilodrán, El Colegio de México

Out of wedlock unions, as a traditional and alternative form of marriage to begin marital life, have become a distinctive trait of nuptiality in Latin America. As a consequence of the increase in sexual practice and out of wedlock births that this condition has produced, life trajectories are becoming more complex. The same is true about the possible sequences of events that mark the beginning of married life. Are the changes confronting family formation in the region, quite similar to those propounded by the Second Demographic Transition, affecting the sequences of the first sexual experience, the first union or marriage, and the birth of the first child? This paper shows the most frequent trajectories for eight Latin American countries and two groups of generations