The articles in this issue report on a variety of young people's behaviors and attitudes, drawn from a wide range of countries. An obvious challenge to which these findings give rise is to explain the differences between countries in these attitudes and behaviors. In this article, we look to institutional variation to supply an answer. Institutions establish a set of opportunities and constraints to which young people respond, but they also reflect, and help to establish, normatively appropriate ways of behaving. We conceptualize institutional variation in terms of welfare regime types, labor market regulation, and educational systems, and we try to sketch some of the ways in which variations in these might explain some national differences in some aspects of the position of young people and the transition from youth to adulthood.
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