The transition to adulthood among second generation Turkish and Moroccan men and women in Flanders (Belgium)

Martine Corijn, Research Centre of the Flemish Government, Brussels
Edith Lodewijckx, Research Centre of the Flemish Government

Second generation young adults of Turkish and Moroccan origin enter their adulthood navigating between the culture of their parents and that of their age mates. How does the timing and pathway of this transition look like? And what about the partner choices? Population register data reveal that second generation Turkish men quite often stay for a while within the parents’ household after marriage. Moroccan men go along a stage of living alone, more often than their Belgian age mates. Second generation Turkish men marry at younger ages than Moroccan ones; the latter approach more the Belgian male timing. Moroccan women are closer to the Turkish female marriage timing. Migration marriages continue to be an important path to form families and to migrate. Unmarried cohabitation remains almost inexistent. Turks form families at much younger ages than their Moroccan and Belgian age mates. Divorce quite early in marriage is not uncommon, particularly not among Moroccan men.