Youth & Society

Research suggests a link between precocious transitions to adulthood (e.g., high school dropout) and maladaptation, and this association is typically assumed to be uniform. We propose that this monolithic portrayal of precocious transitions as problematic for adult functioning is unwarranted, particularly across identities defined by gender, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (SES). Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we use propensity score methodology to demonstrate that the effects of precocious transitions on adult antisocial behavior vary. Results indicate a general null effect of experiencing any precocious transition among low SES subgroups regardless of gender and race/ethnicity and criminogenic effects among more economically privileged subgroups, with the exception of Hispanic females. Additional analyses reveal that the effect of individual transitions further vary in significance across social identities, displaying a criminogenic effect among some subgroups and a null/protective effect among others. Implications for theory and future research are discussed.

Previous methodological approaches have not been flexible enough to model the heterogeneity of depressive symptoms or to identify variations between prototypical trajectories conditional on risk and protective factors. The current study examined latent class trajectories of depressive symptoms using data from 3,819 respondents of the Adolescent Health Survey. Four trajectory profiles of depressive symptoms were identified: low-stable, high-decreasing, low-increasing, and moderate-decreasing. A broad array of risk factors were included into the modeling procedure to identify predictors of group membership. Relative to the low-stable group, membership in one of the three symptomatic groups (i.e., heightened depressive symptoms) was predicted by poverty, low self-esteem, gender, drinking frequency, poor academic outcomes, delinquency, and child maltreatment type. This study contributes to our understanding about the longitudinal manifestations of depression and identifies a broad array of factors significantly related to pathways of resilience.

The U.S. high school dropout rate continues to decline. Possible reasons for this decline include stronger academic standards, persistent state and district actions, and implementation of programs to help disconnected youth reconnect to educational opportunities. In the current study, we propose a complementary hypothesis for rate improvements: adult capacity. When adults nurture, socialize, and teach youth, youth are more likely to achieve academic and life success. Likewise, neighborhoods need enough adults to provide these relationships. Using the Decennial Census data (1970-2010), we examined whether an increase in the adult-to-youth ratio in a neighborhood covaries with a reduction in the status dropout rate. We find that a 1% increase in the ratio is associated with a 1% decrease in the dropout rate. The effect is substantially greater in predominantly Black or African American neighborhoods and higher income neighborhoods. Policy implications are discussed, specifically how the adult-to-youth ratio could be increased.

This aim of this article is to account for the resilience of adolescents who are challenged by structural disadvantage and to highlight that how adolescent resilience is accounted for depends on whether adolescent or adult views are foregrounded. To do so, I report a South African phenomenological study. I draw on a thematic content analysis of qualitative data and subsequent frequency count of the themes to contrast how 385 Black adolescents and 284 adults (who educate or provide services to youth) explain what enables adolescent resilience in the face of structural disadvantage. Adolescent and adult explanations differed substantially with regard to personal strengths, family support, and education pathways. These differences reflect conceptualizations of resilience, which are probably related to developmental stage and cultural fluidity and which caution that, despite adult perspectives being valuable, societies need to prioritize adolescent insights.

Although gender has become a key dimension in migration research, previous scholarship has largely focused on adult rather than child migrants. Even less attention has been paid to the role of gender in migration-related child health. By comparing rural migrant and urban-born adolescents in the largest city in south China, this study assessed gender differences in psychological health and whether such differences were informed by socially induced victimization stressors and stress-moderation mechanisms related to the social relationships that link migrants to their host cities (local ties) and home villages (translocal ties). Victimization was more strongly correlated with suboptimal psychological health in girls versus boys across the migrant and urban-born samples. Local and translocal ties directly increased the psychological health and buffered the deleterious effect of victimization for migrant girls; yet, the roles of these ties were less notable in migrant boys. These results indicate gendered susceptibility to social stress in migrant adolescents.

This study examined Marcia’s identity paradigm among Lebanese adolescents in relation to gender and academic achievement. Participants were 429 students in Grades 7 to 11, aged 12 to 17 years. The Ego Identity Process Questionnaire (EIPQ) was used to classify participants into the four identity statuses: Achievement, Moratorium, Foreclosure, and Diffusion. Results showed that females were mostly in Moratorium (37.4%) whereas males in Foreclosure (35.1%). The difference was statistically significant, χ²(3) = 20.40, p = .001. Also, females scored significantly higher on the Exploration subscale, t(425) = −2.68, p = .04, whereas males scored significantly higher on the Commitment subscale, t(426) = 4.19, p = .01. No significant achievement differences were found among students in the four identity statuses, F(3, 419) = .38, p = .13. These results suggest possible shifts in cultural norms with females developing identity through pathways believed to be males’ in traditional societies.