The sequence of life events of Russian men serving and not serving in the military

Abstract

Using two representative Russian surveys – “Person, Family, Society” (used for building research models) and “Russian monitoring of the economic condition and health of the population” (for auxiliary, descriptive analysis) – we analysed the differences in the life courses of Russian men who served and did not serve in the army. For these two groups of men, we compared the ages and sequences of the most important first events (separation from the parental home, first job, obtaining an education, first cohabitation, first marriage, and first child). We constructed socio-demographic “portraits” of these men at the age of 15 and at the moment of the survey (2013). Our results revealed that those men who served in the military have more socio-economic and demographic events than those who avoided military service: men with military experience start adult life earlier and more intensively. The mechanism of selecting men for military service has changed since the 1990s. Men who serve are mainly children of parents without higher education and not occupying senior positions in the period of their children’s socialisation. After completing] military service, men often work and live separately, while those who did not serve in the army study and live with their parents.

Keywords

• army
• conscription
• military service
• demographic behaviour
• job
• education