Losing Generations: Adolescents in High-Risk Settings : Panel on High-Risk Youth : Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education

This volume breaks new ground by exploring settings in which American youth are expected to mature to responsible adulthood. Although no one would argue with the fact that individual initiative is important to life achievement, any young person who tries to move forward does so within complex surroundings of family, economics, education, and overall community life. This new focus comes none too soon: The major settings of adolescent life have become increasingly beleaguered, especially in our inner cities among minorities and ethnically separated populations. Crime and economic hardship have grown while community institutions have disintegrated. Such settings have become the crucible in which the lives of increasing numbers of America's youth are being shaped. To focus on settings is to recognize that context has a profound influence on the shape of a young person's entire life as well as the day-to-day decisions that result in high-risk behavior. After two decades of focus on individuals, this book recognizes that there are roadblocks that even the most energetic youth cannot overcome. Fully one-quarter of adolescents today may be at risk of failing to achieve productive adulthood. If we expect to help them, we must take a hard look at the policies that - intentionally or unintentionally - create the threatening environments in which these young people are growing up. This volume illuminates the challenging policy decisions that must be made.