The aim of the research was to examine and compare experiences of young people making the transition to independent adulthood in different socio-cultural contexts. Societies differ greatly with regard to the opportunities and risk they present to young people. A key question to be answered was how best to prepare and equip young people for navigating the school-to-work transition in a changing global context. A particular focus was on the role of individual agency in shaping transition experiences over and above experience of socio-economic adversity and structural constraints, and if this role varies across countries characterised by different institutional settings and welfare regimes? The notion of agency is understood to reflect individual competences, planning and choices, which develop through interactions with structural constraints, and which can vary cross different structural contexts.