Starting Events in the Work, Marital, and Reproductive Biographies of Russians Born Between 1960 and 1994: The Transformation of Maturation Trajectories from Generation to Generation

Population and Economics. 2026.

Biryukova S., Makarentseva A. O., Амшаринская С. Ю.

Drawing on the concept of the life course and analyzing the diversity of life trajectories in the age range from 16 to 30 years, the authors of the article examine how the composition of maturation patterns changes across generations in Russia. The study is based on data from the 2024 HSE population survey "Decision-making about changing jobs and professions in Russia: experience, motives, and satisfaction" (8,561 respondents born between 1960 and 1994). The authors construct sequences of life events (entering the labor market, first marriage and, in relevant cases, divorce, and the birth of the first child), and then cluster them using the full sample and within generations identified using Vadim Radaev's methodology (Radaev 2018). Three typical biographical patterns were identified for men and women of the stagnation and post-reform generations, which the authors characterized as "Emphasis on Family," "Emphasis on Work," and "Mixed and Vulnerable Trajectories." By the post-reform generation, the prevalence of the first pattern significantly declined, while that of the second increased. In the millennial generation, the authors show that the "Mixed and Vulnerable Trajectories" and "Emphasis on Family" patterns persist, albeit in smaller proportions, while new ones emerge. Specifically, the "Emphasis on Work" pattern is divided into two, differing primarily in the timing of labor market entry. The new pattern in the millennial generation is called "Combined: Work-Marriage-Children." In this case, the "work, marriage, no child" status is much more pronounced than in the others, with the transition to the "work, marriage, child" status occurring closer to age 30 or not occurring during the observation period.

Keywords: трудовое поведение, репродуктивное поведение, жизненный путь, reproductive behavior, брачное поведение, sequence analysis, анализ последовательностей, labor behavior, биографический анализ, biographical analysis, поколенческие различия, generational differences, life path, marital behavior

Publication based on the results of: Decision-making in key life spheres: space of choice and the role of individual characteristics and contextual factors (2025)