1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The aim of this paper was to examine tradesmen’s perceptions of their transitions and to determine whether these perceptions that trades people get a head start on the transition to adulthood are supported in nationally representative data on the home-leaving, union formation, and marriage behaviors of a recent cohort of Canadian men.» (p. 760)

Questions/Hypothèses :
The research tries to answer the following question: «How do young men certified in the skilled trades talk about their educational choices in relation to their transition to adulthood? How do they compare their experiences to those of their university-educated peers? […] Are there significant educational differences in the timing of home-leaving, partnering, and marriage at the national level? Are these differences in line with the perceptions and expectations of young men in the trades?» (p. 748)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
Authors draw «interviews conducted in 2010 with young men who began apprenticeships in the skilled trades between 2001 and 2006 through Ontario’s Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP). [They] limit [their] analyses to 18 young men ranging from 21 to 24 years old, who had successfully completed their certification in electrical, machinery, plumbing, automotive, culinary, and carpentry trades at the time of interview.» (p. 749) They also «use the 2011 General Social Survey (Cycle 25 Families) to examine whether national-level educational differences in the transition to adulthood are in line with the perceptions of young men in the trades.» (p. 749)

Instruments :
-Guide d’entretien semi-directif
-Questionnaire

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse de contenu
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«The young men interviewed perceived that they transitioned into adulthood more quickly than their peers by avoiding student debt and getting their careers started earlier. However, the interviews with respondents also revealed that training in the skilled trades can require substantial financial investment and employment is often unstable and difficult to secure. Canadian apprenticeships continue to be characterized by very low completion rates […] and relatively poor employer involvement and commitment […], both of which set the Canadian system apart from well-established apprenticeships like those found in Germany’s dual system.» (p. 760) Likewise, study shows that men «born in Quebec have similar hazards of home-leaving as those born in the rest of Canada, but those born outside of Canada have significantly lower hazards of home-leaving.» (p. 759) The study «also shows that men who grew up in families without two parents before age 25, and men who were born in Quebec, have higher hazards of partnering compared to their counterparts, although fathers’ education is not associated with the timing of partnering.» (p. 14) Moreover, men «born in Quebec have much lower hazards of transitioning to marriage than men born in other Canadian provinces. Conversely, men born outside of Canada are 1.35 times higher hazards of marriage than native-born Canadians outside of Quebec.» (p. 760)