Reconfigurations of the transition to adulthood amongst first-generation students in contexts of crisis: the Peruvian experience

This article examines how first-generation students (FGS) in Peru experience the transition to adulthood within the university context. Through a biographical approach based on 60 interviews with scholarship recipients across three regions of the country (Coast, Highlands and Amazon), the study analyses the particular configuration of life stages that emerges when the university experience unfolds in contexts of precarity. The findings reveal that, far from representing a period of social moratorium, university constitutes for FGS an ‘intermediate age’ characterised by constant tension between aspirations for autonomy and family responsibilities. The COVID-19 pandemic has made these tensions more visible and acute, evidencing both specific vulnerabilities and notable adaptive capacities. The analysis also shows how gender structures these experiences: while women face greater demands for family care, men experience more pressure to contribute economically. These findings invite us to rethink traditional conceptions of youth and adulthood, revealing how life transitions are reconfigured in contexts where the pursuit of social mobility through higher education coexists with persistent inequalities.