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Stanford Center on Adolescence
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Nancy Tuma
Professor of Sociology

Nancy Tuma, Professor of Sociology. Tuma is one of the world's leading methodologists in the study of the life course. She is currently doing research on life careers, with special attention to life experiences during adolescence and the impact of adolescent experiences on life during early adulthood. Her early research (Michael and Tuma, 1984, 1985) focused on early labor force experiences and family formation of young Americans. Her interests then broadened to include the same phenomena in other countries. Presently, Tuma's main research focuses on cross-national comparative analyses in former socialist societies. The major societal transformations underway in formerly communist countries create enormous political, economic, and social changes. Tuma's goal is to learn to what extent and in what ways adolescent experiences help young adults cope with the impacts of these major societal changes on their lives.

To study these issues, Tuma is working with Dr. Mikk Titma on "Paths of a Generation," a longitudinal study of a 1983 cohort of secondary school graduates in diverse regions of the former Soviet Union (now in nine of its successor states). After an initial survey in 1983-84, the sample of school graduates were interviewed again in three follow-ups, in 1988-89, 1992-93, and 1997-99. The third wave of data was collected under Titma's leadership, with support from the Jacobs Foundation. With support from the National Science Foundation, Tuma and Titma are preparing to analyze these rich sources. Tuma and Titma are now beginning to analyze all four waves of data, addressing such issues as marital formation and break-up, parenting, work careers, and values and life orientations, and how these change over time. Of special interest is how the political, economic, and social context of the larger society affects the life course of young adults. Comparative analyses that contrast findings from the U.S. with results from the former Soviet states will provide an important cross-cultural context for understanding processes of adolescent development as they lead to adulthood.

E-mail: tuma@stanford.edu
Tel: (650) 723-4461
Fax: (650) 725-6471