There are indications that young adults, and especially young parents, are inincreasingly economically challenging positions. Educational attainment is commonly used in research evaluating fertility behaviour, while less is known how the relationship between education and fertility has changed over time. Therefore, this thesis analyses the transition into parenthood among young adult men and women in Sweden over time, focusing on the role of education on fertility. Using an event history analysis framework, the transition to first birth among 20-25 year-olds in Sweden is analysed using the Swedish Generations and Gender Survey over the period 1980 to 2014. On average, men and women of lower education have a higher risk of entering parenthood between the ages of 20 to 25 compared to all other educational levels. However, the relationship seems to be conditioned on calendar period and gender, where the risk of entering parenthood between ages 20 to 25 is higher in the 1990s and 2000s compared to the 1980s among low educated men, where the opposite is true for women.

The diploma thesis "Life values of pupils of 8th and 9th grades" deals with the life values in the complicated lifetime of adolescence. The main focus is on the youth at the age of 13 to 15, which corresponds with the 8th and 9th grade of elementary schools or with tercie and kvarta of grammar schools. The thesis concentrates primarily on the values and value rankings of individuals, mentions possible influences on these values and explains some concepts related to the values.or explaining the values. I specify the life period of adolescence, the integration of individuals into the society and their bonds to their families. The adolescents' ideas about their future are also reflected. The practical part of the thesis compares the life values of primary school pupils and grammar school students. To demonstrate the differences, I use a questionnaire survey complemented with professional opinions of teachers and professors from the schools mentioned. I am trying to find out if their values, value rankings, ideas about future life and their parents' support are significantly different in some ways or if there are any remarkable contrasts in these areas in terms of genders.

<p>The purpose of this paper was to examine how young parenthood is represented by the professionals and their thoughts and experiences from meetings with the young parents, and how the professionals work with this group of parents. As professionals we refer to those who work with young parents, and the definition of young parents are parents in the ages 15-24. The paper also discusses what needs these parents have, and what kind of support the society offers, according to the professionals. The method we worked with was interviews and we interviewed six professionals to find out how the professionals looked upon the young parents and their situation. Earlier research has stated that young parenthood is associated with many risks and disadvantages for both the parents and their children. What we discovered was that young parenthood not necessarily has to be only about disadvantages. Many benefits were brought up during our interviews. Among others the professionals saw the young parents as more spontaneous and more to easy with their children, compared to older parents. The young parents also seemed less concerned than the older parents and their young age made them more biologically suited to have children. Some of the disadvantages we found were that many lacked higher education and trouble finding suitable accommodation because of lack of income. As a conclusion the professionals stated that a social network was of most importance for the young parents.</p>

The purpose of this paper was to examine how young parenthood is represented by the professionals and their thoughts and experiences from meetings with the young parents, and how the professionals work with this group of parents. As professionals we refer to those who work with young parents, and the definition of young parents are parents in the ages 15-24. The paper also discusses what needs these parents have, and what kind of support the society offers, according to the professionals. The method we worked with was interviews and we interviewed six professionals to find out how the professionals looked upon the young parents and their situation. Earlier research has stated that young parenthood is associated with many risks and disadvantages for both the parents and their children. What we discovered was that young parenthood not necessarily has to be only about disadvantages. Many benefits were brought up during our interviews. Among others the professionals saw the young parents as more spontaneous and more to easy with their children, compared to older parents. The young parents also seemed less concerned than the older parents and their young age made them more biologically suited to have children. Some of the disadvantages we found were that many lacked higher education and trouble finding suitable accommodation because of lack of income. As a conclusion the professionals stated that a social network was of most importance for the young parents.

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Teenage parenting is widely constructed in prevailing research and public discourse as a social problem, with poor outcomes for parent and child. Teenage parents are regarded as a drain on state funds, too young to parent well, and at high risk of social exclusion, both educationally and economically. This thesis proposes that teenage motherhood is a turning point in a young woman’s life and identity, which can be an opportunity, rather than a problem, if there is adequate support for the mother and her child. It considers the role of a New Zealand School for Teenage Parents in providing this support. Using qualitative narrative methodology, ten young women, six family members and nine other members of the School community were interviewed about their experiences of its culture and practices. Six of the young women were also interviewed to gather their life stories. Informed by the narrative understanding that we story our identities from the narrative possibilities available to us within the varied discursive contexts of our lives, this thesis draws on these life stories to explore how the young women storied the fashioning of their own identities as young women, as learners and as young parents. It presents their stories of childhood and family life, teenage-hood and schooling, pregnancy and parenthood, their experiences at the School for Teenage Parents, and their lives since leaving the School, in order to consider the role of the School in supporting the positive refashioning of their identities. This thesis draws on social constructionist and narrative theories to interpret the storied contexts of the young women’s lives, and the role these often constraining and difficult contexts played in the fashioning of their multiple identities. Māori culturally responsive pedagogical theories are also drawn on to interpret the culture of the School for Teenage Parents, and its attempts to provide a supportive and affirming family or whānau environment for its students, in order to offer them more positive narrative possibilities of self and identity as young women, as learners and as young parents.