This article is an introduction to the special issue on family life transitions of children of immigrants, i.e. the second generation. We will sketch a picture of the second generation in Europe, discuss the background of these groups, their position in European societies and their transition to adulthood. We furthermore introduce new questions with regard to family life transitions and the study of the second generation. The availability of new data on the second generation via the recent TIES (The Integration of the European Second Generation) survey allow for a European comparative approach which is applied in several of the articles in this special issue. The introduction to these data is followed by an overview of the contributions and main findings of the papers in this special issue. Finally, we reflect on some of the findings as well as their implications and present suggestions for future research in the field. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

Europe, TIES second generation transition to adulthood

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