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This article takes as a starting point the segregation of urban areas and discusses schooling in the neighbourhoods typically associated with problems and challenges, in order to explore young people's responses to their schooling and social positions. Such responses include individual acts, such as rejecting further schooling or dismissing the local school in favour of prestigious ones, as well as the development of shared understandings and collective formations. The article focuses in particular on young people's responses through aesthetic practices, informal education and public political actions. Although research suggests that youths in poor areas are increasingly individualised and shows that schools provide them with little help to understand and act upon their circumstances in school, the analyses here also bring to light young people's rather strong belief in collective actions; students' formations of resistance groups and political knowledge appear as crucial resources, and, although scarce, teacher support and teaching about political actions appear as important. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A quasi-experimental comparison of cousins differentially exposed to levels of neighborhood disadvantage (ND) was used with extensive measured covariates to test the hypothesis that neighborhood risk has independent effects on youth conduct problems (CPs). Multilevel analyses were based on mother-rated ND and both mother-reported CPs across 4-13 years (n = 7,077) and youth-reported CPs across 10-13 years (n = 4,524) from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. ND was robustly related to CPs reported by both informants when controlling for both measured risk factors that are correlated with ND and unmeasured confounds. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that ND has influence on conduct problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While access to postsecondary education in Canada has increased over the past decade, a number of recent studies demonstrate that youth from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds are vulnerable to some degree of exclusion from postsecondary education. These studies tend to emphasize the lack of financial resources and social capital as the main sources of this vulnerability. Our paper employs multilevel framework to explore the extent of the impact of schools on access to postsecondary education, especially for youth from disadvantaged background. Our analyses revealed that: (1) for youth with similar financial constraints who attend schools with relatively similar quality, those from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds who attend schools with high concentration of low SES students are particularly vulnerable to exclusion from university education, and (2) a substantial portion of the SES effect operate through the impact of high school academic achievement and postsecondary education expectation on access to postsecondary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chapter 1 of the book "Research in Labor Economics," Volume 33, edited by Solomon W. Polachek and Konstantinos Tatsiramos is presented. It details the incidences and duration of activities of adolescents with daily time constraint during the period 2003 to 2006. It determines that teenagers in disadvantaged households spend more time in work activities and taking adult roles, but they also spend less time in nonclassroom educational activities.

Abstract: The purpose of this paper was to examine if the school-attendance requirement of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) significantly increased attendance among the teenage girls that the policy targeted. This study applied difference-in-difference and difference-in-difference-in-difference methods to 12years of cross-sectional data from the October Supplement of the Current Population Survey while isolating the effects of PRWORA from the effects of other factors that might have influenced the target population''s school attendance. The findings indicated that PRWORA, overall, did not have significant positive impacts on school attendance; rather, the policy was associated with a small but significant reduction in school attendance of U.S.-born disadvantaged teenage girls between 1996 through 1999 and essentially no effects on the target population thereafter. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

There has been significant recent research and policy interest in issues of young people's occupational aspirations, transitions to employment and the antecedents of NEET (not in employment, education or training) status. Many have argued that changes to the youth labour market over the past 30 years have led to transitions to work becoming more individualised, complex and troublesome for many, particularly those from poorer backgrounds. However, little research has examined the connection between early uncertainty or misalignment in occupational aspirations and entry into NEET status. This paper draws on the British Cohort Study to investigate these issues, and finds that young people with uncertain occupational aspirations or ones misaligned with their educational expectations are considerably more likely to become NEET by age 18. Uncertainty and misalignment are both more widespread and more detrimental for those from poorer backgrounds. These findings are discussed in the context of recent research and debates on emerging adulthood and the youth labour market. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study empirically tested 3 mechanisms commonly suggested to disadvantage youths whose mothers are incarcerated in prison. An event history analysis of school dropout was conducted on a sample of 6,008 adolescents in a large city created by merging several Illinois state administrative data. Findings revealed that adolescents are indeed at greater risk of school dropout during the year(s) their mothers are incarcerated. Children who are removed from maternal guardianship and placed under the guardianship of a relative adult are observed to have higher odds of school dropout than children who remain under maternal guardianship after the mother's imprisonment. Lastly, attending a school in which maternal imprisonment is fairly common is not found to place adolescents at greater risk of school dropout after controlling for school quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The young people who are the focus of this article grow up in communities ravaged by poverty and conflict. School is where they spend most of their time, but their experience of school is, generally, not motivating and increases their feelings of social exclusion; almost one in ten young people whose family depends on benefits leaves school with no educational qualifications and the future they see is bleak. Small wonder, then, that so many suffer from emotional and mental health problems and engage in self-harming behavior. This article will use qualitative data from two studies carried out over the past 5 years to explore the experiences of young people growing up in poverty in Northern Ireland and look at the extent of their exclusion from the norms of society. It will argue that this exclusion is such that some of them feel “outsiders” even within their own, disadvantaged, community, and this is dangerous in a society which is still emerging from conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using representative survey data from the municipality of Oslo, capital of Norway, this article examines expectations about the future among 14–16-year-olds in relatively poor families. Despite Norway’s universalistic welfare policies and a period of growing economic prosperity prior to the 2006 survey, the article reveals that adolescents in poor families are more likely than other adolescents to anticipate unemployment and less often expect to own a home. Poor adolescents are also less likely to expect future happiness. A considerable portion of poor adolescents have a immigrant background, but the analyses show a non-trivial negative effect of living in a poor family even when controlling for this variable. In addition, the analyses investigate the role of selected mediating factors, namely, low academic achievement, self-perceived unpopularity among peers and attending a school with a relatively high share of poor adolescents. Low academic achievement and perceived unpopularity explain some of the relationship between poverty and low expectations, whereas school milieu has less effect. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An exploratory qualitative study of 16 disadvantaged youth in 5 countries suggests that making both precocious and developmentally appropriate contributions to their families' well-being is advantageous to adolescents coping with chronic adversity. All youth were known to be doing well (as identified by community advisors) and showed patterns of contribution that provided instrumental support to parents, siblings, and extended family members in culturally relevant ways. Data were gathered using in-depth interviews, photo-elicitation, and the filming of 1 full day in the life of each youth. Youth reported that their experiences of precocious (synonymous with processes of adultification) and developmentally appropriate contribution facilitate their access to resources that nurture and sustain their well-being. This process of contribution is discussed as one aspect of resilience. Both youth and their caregivers coconstructed acts of contribution as helpful to young people's psychosocial development in contexts where youth are exposed to multiple risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The course and efficacy of parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) were examined in 18 socioeconomically disadvantaged African American families of preschoolers with disruptive behavior disorders. Mothers reported significant improvements in child disruptive behavior but not in maternal depressive symptoms or parenting stress. Attrition was 56%, most often occurring after pre-treatment assessment but before treatment began. Results suggest that PCIT may lead to positive behavior changes for disadvantaged young African American children when families complete treatment. Recruitment, engagement, and retention remain significant problems requiring further study. Reduction of parenting stress also requires study in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current trends have allowed some youth a lengthened transition to adulthood, in part because of demographic shifts that delay the time until adolescents assume adult roles. Although these trends are well documented, less research has examined how this impacts vulnerable subgroups. Using a sample of predominantly White youth (ages 18-33) from the National Survey of Families and Households (N = 1,517), this study traces the timing of critical events in emerging adulthood. Using survival analysis, results suggest poverty impacts youth experiences of home leaving, marriage, and parenthood. Low-income youth are at greater risk of early home leaving but less likely to leave after age 18. They are less likely to marry, though they have a greater risk of parenthood prior to age 25. Taken as whole, these outcomes can set youth up for negative trajectories throughout adulthood and may not allow poor youth the same opportunity for an extended period of emerging adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although the 'stop snitching' phenomenon has brought recent attention to crime reporting, researchers have recognized for a long time the importance of this issue. Early studies focused on individual-level factors related to reporting, but recently, researchers have begun to examine neighborhood-level predictors. Most of these studies, however, omit key individual-level predictors of reporting and provide relatively little insight into the individual-level processes through which neighborhood context might affect reporting. This study uses survey data from a multisite, school-based study to examine whether neighborhood structural characteristics and individual-level attitudes and experiences are related to youths' intentions to report crime. In addition, we assess whether neighborhood characteristics influence reporting via their effect on individual-level attitudes and experiences. We find that neighborhood poverty has an inverse relationship with crime reporting intentions and that numerous individual-level measures are associated with reporting, including attitudes toward the police, delinquency, and perceptions of the community. Importantly, the effects of neighborhood characteristics are reduced when youths' attitudes and experiences are included in the model. Taken together, our findings suggest that neighborhood context might affect reporting by shaping the attitudes and experiences of youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the significance of group therapy as a treatment modality among the youth with Asperger's syndrome in the U.S. It highlights the program called Outside In originally developed by the Montcalm School for Boys which offer services to the youth with autistic spectrum disorders. It states that the group therapy significantly improves the ability of the youth to develop, value and maintain their relationships with peers, teachers and family members. It emphasizes the adjustments of a group therapy session to accommodate the needs of the students which include time of day for the session, length of the session and flexibility in seating.

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Since the early 1990s, specific community sports programmes have been set up in Flanders (Belgium) to stimulate participation among socially deprived groups. With only a limited involvement of the traditional sports sector, alternative providers (e.g. youth welfare sector) became active in organizing local initiatives, such as neighbourhood sports. However, despite the multiplicity of sports providers, to date, inequalities in sports participation still exist. The present paper investigates whether or not the commercial sports sector can contribute in developing a sustainable community sports offering for socially deprived youth. Based on examples regarding its involvement in so-called 'street sports', it is argued that the commercial sector entered the domain of community sports providers by using highly accessible activities for this youth. It is yet to be determined if, and under which circumstances, this involvement offers opportunities for a wider role of the commercial sports sector in community sports development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five waves of longitudinal data from a sample of minority youth living in extreme poverty were used to examine the impact of chronic exposure to violence on chronic violent behavior. Given the rapid rate of developmental change during adolescence and the lack of multiyear studies of exposure to violence, semiparametric group-based modeling was used to identify trajectories of chronic exposure to violence (7% of youth), chronic violent victimization (9% of youth), chronic vicarious victimization (39% of youth), and chronic violent behavior (12% of youth). The multivariate findings revealed that (a) youth with chronic exposure to violence were 3,150% (or 31.5 times) more likely to engage in chronic violent behavior and (b) chronic vicarious victimization was a significant predictor of chronic violent behavior, after controlling for the effects of chronic violent victimization. The theoretical and policy implications of these findings as well as areas for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy has traditionally emphasized the completion of academic requirements as the gateway to postsecondary education. There is, however, growing understanding that youth need to develop a wide range of knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal resources for career success, civic engagement, and lifelong learning. It also is necessary to address the social, informational, and financial barriers to college that many first-generation and low-income youth come up against. Allowing youth to participate in programs that provide access to college campuses and classes, through dual or concurrent enrollment, early college models, or expanded learning opportunities, is an effective way to help students gain college knowledge and see themselves as college students. This article offers an expanded definition of college and career readiness and profiles three programs drawn from a larger review of twenty-three programs designed to support college and career success for students from underrepresented groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Turkey, the policy makers and politicians have encouraged investments on education as a way to eliminate poverty among the young people in general and the young women in particular, while there seems to be a lack of interest in the perceptions and expectations of the young people. This paper has tried to fill this gap and introduced some policy suggestions to construct a bridge between politicians' intentions and the young people's perceptions. It is argued that effective policies should be informed by demand side as in this case excluded young people. Otherwise, the policies could not be responded on the ground. This is required active participation of the excluded young people in the process. In other words, they need to be a part of the solution, rather than of the problem. The paper is based on a part of the research about disadvantaged young people aged 15-24 living in Ankara as one of the big metropolis in Turkey sponsored by TUBITAK (Turkish Scientific Research Council) in 2008-2010. Both quantitative and qualitative research techniques were applied during the research. The data has been collected in five stages. First, statistical data sets (TSI, SPD etc.) on young people in general and this specific age group in particular, was analysed. Then, in-depth interviews with service providers to young people in different organisations (local, governmental and non-governmental) were carried out. In the third stage, a questionnaire was applied to 600 young people (300 males and 300 females). At the end of this stage, one day workshop with service providers to share the survey result was arranged and in-depth interviews with selected young people were conducted in the later stage. In the final stage some focus group discussions were executed with these young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tobacco consumption in multiple forms presents an emerging, significant and growing threat to the health of Indian adolescents, especially those from low socio-economic communities. Research in two phases was undertaken among economically disadvantaged adolescents in two urban slums of Delhi. In phase I, qualitative research methods such as focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were used to explore and understand the determinants influencing tobacco use among these adolescents. Prevalence of tobacco use was higher among boys than girls. Adolescents reported using tobacco in multiple forms, chewing tobacco being the most popular. Peer pressure, easy availability and affordability were important reasons associated with tobacco initiation and continued use. Though they had some knowledge about the harmful effects of tobacco, this was not sufficient to motivate them to abstain or quit. The community-based intervention model developed on the basis of the results of phase I was evaluated in phase II in a demonstration study with two slum communities. One was treated as the intervention and the other as control. A significant difference in current use of tobacco was observed between the study groups (p = 0.048), with the intervention group showing a reduction in use, compared with an increase in use among the control group. Post-intervention, the intervention group reported significantly lower fresh uptake (0.3%) of tobacco use compared with the control group (1.7%). No significant change was found for quit rate (p = 0.282) in the two groups. Community-based interventions can be effective in preventing adolescents from initiating tobacco use in a low-resource setting such as India. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Participation in physical activity is important for the positive development and well-being of youth. A community-academic partnership was formed to improve access to physical activity for youth in one disadvantaged community in Ottawa, Canada. After consulting this community, a new hip-hop dance intervention was implemented. Adolescents aged 11 to 16 years participated in one of two 3-month sessions. A girls-only and a boys-and-girls format were offered both sessions. This article investigates the implementation of the intervention from the perspective of the youth participants, parents, staff, and researchers. Multiple methods were used, including document review, observation, questionnaire, focus groups, and interviews. Overall, the consistency and quality of program implementation were moderately satisfactory; however, important concerns were noted and this program appeared to be only partially delivered as planned. These findings will be discussed in terms of suggestions for improving the implementation of this intervention and similar recreation programs prioritizing disadvantaged communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a paucity of studies regarding noncurricular physical activity promotion interventions among adolescents, and even less such research pertaining to underserved youth. This article describes the development and implementation of a noncurricular, school-based physical activity promotion program designed for a multiethnic, underserved population of adolescents. The program's impact on leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and on physical activity enjoyment (PAE) is also presented. The 16-week program, named FunAction, utilizes social marketing principles. Control (n = 90) and intervention (n = 131) students are assessed pre- and postintervention for levels of LTPA and PAE. Results indicate that although the program did not contribute to an increase in LTPA or PAE among intervention group students, participation in the program was elevated. This study offers preliminary evidence that noncurricular physical activity promotion programs that apply social marketing principles can be effective in engaging multiethnic, underserved adolescents in physical activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the relationship between lyrical rap music content and the construction of an adolescent's social identity. It is discussed that the lyrics in rap music are a reflection of an oppositional culture which help in shaping an adolescent's violent social identity. It adds that violence is a part of these disadvantaged communities such that many of the lyrics in rap music reflect a code of the street. It also mentions that media plays an important role in increasing violence among youth. It also mentions that by sharing of symbols, language, norms adolescents who are not original members of oppositional culture, are adopting the social construction of reality.

The present study investigated perceived effects of an afterschool program located in 6 Title 1 schools on students' achievement, self-esteem, and attitudes. Data sources comprised surveys (n = 257), 5 focus groups (n = 23), and an individual interview with the program director (n = 1). Survey data indicated overall satisfaction with the program. Perceptions of the program related strongly to student perceptions of personal and social variables. Parent perceptions did not vary across student participation levels, and differences in staff philosophies of education were unrelated to perceptions of program quality. Focus group data indicated that participants viewed the program as a safe haven and a means to improve academic and social skills. Student and parent focus groups indicated fondness for the staff, whereas staff and parent groups mentioned character development as a significant outcome. Findings supported the notion that afterschool programs are valuable to many children, especially those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Additionally, afterschool programs can provide children with more than academic services, such as character development, social skills, and safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines social class differences in the gender segregation of children and pre-adolescents and draws upon data from two recent German studies. Based on longitudinal quantitative data from a representative children's survey, the first analysis suggests that in comparison to children from upper-class families, lower-class children tend to remain longer in gender-heterogeneous peer groups, a major proportion of students continue to have opposite-sex friends and changes between same- and opposite-sex peers appear earlier. In two further sections, material from a reconstructive study of 10- to 12-year-old pre-adolescents is used to describe more in-depth reflections of children themselves on gender segregation as well as orientations that develop in same-sex peer groups in contrasting social classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the contribution that can be made by philosophy of hope as a theoretical tool for youth studies. The language of hope is powerful - not only in people's everyday discourses but also in education, counselling and youth work. When working with youth who are marginalized or disadvantaged, hope can be a crucial resource. For example, teaching is sometimes seen as a 'discipline of hope'. At first this sounds uplifting, even inspirational. But the use of hope in such discourses all too often remains without much analysis of what hope means and how it may be applied. This article aims to offer a beginning for both. First, I will provide an overview of theories of hope from various paradigms. Drawing on several of these, I argue for a conceptualization of hope as robust, sound and attainable. Second, I explore what this might mean in practice for teachers and others working with marginalized youth, and I propose four resources for applying philosophy of hope: a positive culture, a focus on possibility, a community of hope, and critical reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we present multiple assertions relevant to the plight of students who are underserved and structurally positioned to transition out of school unable to access labor market rewards. First, we juxtapose economic realities against collective ideologies about the role of education in creating opportunities for individuals. Second, we discuss conceptual understandings of “tracking” with a particular focus on the role of subbaccalaureate education in the tracking and transition process. Third, we propose to dismantle dichotomous notions of “career” and “college” preparation to expand opportunities for underserved students and reduce inequities by preparing all students for both college and work options simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article conceptualizes the crucial social and developmental features impacting Mexican-descent youth and adolescents in low-income communities in southern California. All youth in these neighborhoods must confront and come to grips with the many environmental, socioeconomic, racial, and cultural forces they confront. However, it is the poorest of the poor and most culturally conflicted individuals and groups that must command people's attention. It is these street-socialized youth who are most prone to being subjected to disconnection and becoming gang members. To date, the various school-based strategies that have been formulated, and are constantly being reformulated, often miss the street-socialized segment. Based on extensive anthropological and sociological research, this article pushes researchers to critically examine the education of low-income youth through a multiple marginality framework. It suggests a holistic understanding of street socialization that impacts all youth, from those that are completely disengaged and in gangs to those who are succeeding despite the odds. This approach will significantly inform educational policy and practice to bring marginalized youth back on track toward a productive adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies suggest that there are strong differences in the rates of youth poverty across European countries. Rather surprisingly, it is found to be high in Scandinavian countries, and relatively speaking, lower in Mediterranean and Anglo-Saxon countries. This somewhat unexpected finding prompts the question whether the incidence of poverty is an appropriate measure of youth disadvantage. Instead of considering poverty rates we consider the length of recorded poverty spells, taking into account explicitly the temporal sequencing of the episodes of poverty. Using the European Community Household Panel, individuals are classified into different groups of poverty permanence, each reflecting severity of social disadvantage. Based on these categories we implement a generalized ordinal logit model to assess the various factors associated with social disadvantage among youth. We find that cross-national patterns differ from those found in previous studies. In particular from our findings it does not result that poverty is highest among young people in Social Democratic countries. Our analysis shows important gender differences, though they are not the same across the countries included in the study. For some countries it turns out that being a woman is a protective factor against long-term poverty. As previous studies suggests, young individuals’ living arrangements matter. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Young people in jobs without training are ubiquitous but invisible, working in shops, cafes, and other low-waged, low-status occupations. Commonly elided with young people who are not in education, employment or training, they are positioned as the 'thick bunch' with empty and meaningless working lives. The main purpose of the research was to explore the experiences of this group of marginalised and socially disadvantaged young people through a deeper understanding of their interests and enthusiasms inside and outside work. These young people have been (mis)understood and (mis)represented. A more holistic and nuanced approach that is not uncritically founded upon a set of neo-liberal stereotypes and assumptions, and instead recognises the complexity of their lives, would offer new opportunities for understanding and representation of their interests. Our findings challenge the conflation of identity with work and the notion that only certain forms of employment create meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the critical perspectives of the globalization, this article offers an analysis of the elements that form the construction of the fear between poor slums youth of the city of San Jose, Costa Rica. This recognizes the role that the macrostruclural trends and the environment of the poverty, characterized by the lack of safety and certainties, play in the configuration of the juvenile fears. Around these trends it is analyzed the role that the juvenile identities play linked to the institutionalized and not institutionalized time, in the conformation of the safeties and certainties necessary to inhabit these environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents challenges facing researchers in applying basic ethical principles while conducting research with youth in a developing country context. A discussion of the cultural and social challenges to adherence to the elements of informed consent: disclosure, comprehension, capacity, voluntariness and consent is presented. The authors argue that the current institutional review board requirements that guide research reflect values and stem from western contexts that may not be fully applicable to non-western contexts. More dialogue is needed among researchers in developing world contexts on challenges of and possible revisions to requirements that maintain respect for persons, beneficence, autonomy and justice, particularly when working with youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined sons' and daughters' involvement with nonresident fathers and associated outcomes ( = 4,663). Results indicated that sons and daughters reported equal involvement with nonresident fathers on most measures of father investment, although sons reported more overnight visits, sports, and movies and feeling closer to their fathers compared to daughters. Sons and daughters generally benefited from nonresident father involvement in the same way in internalizing and externalizing problems and grades. Feeling close to one's nonresident father, however, was associated with lower internalizing problems for daughters than sons. These findings suggest that nonresident fathers should be encouraged to be equally involved with their sons and daughters, as such involvement was associated with higher levels of well-being for both sons and daughters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What follows challenges the dominant discourses shaping contemporary social policy responses to the 'problem of youth', arguing that these accounts fail to acknowledge structurally-determined social contexts (beyond the control of individuals, families and 'communities') within which social inter-actions (and their related tensions) are played out. At the same time, it is contended that these discourses are serving to divert attention away from possibilities of more imaginative social policy interventions, leading instead to the intensification of the 'criminalisation of social policy' and increasing harms for disadvantaged young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey ofYouth, the author reports secondary analyses that examine the bidirectional effects of the duration of early poverty on children's reading and home environment scores. The author focuses on three specific questions: (1 ) Does the duration of early childhood poverty affect children's reading scores from ages 5 and 6 to ages 11 and 12 after controlling for individual, family, and contextual characteristics? (2) Does the duration of early poverty affect the trajectories for reading and home environment scores from ages 5 and 6 to ages 11 and 12? (3) Are there any differences associated with ethnicity in the trajectories for reading and home scores, and do these differences depend on the duration of early poverty? Findings suggest that a longer duration of early poverty had significant adverse effects on children and these adverse effects became more pronounced as children grew. Early poverty also negatively affected home scores at ages 5 and 6, which, in turn, affected reading scores at ages 5 and 6 and continuously did so as the children grew older. However, these associations between home and reading scores were different across ethnicities with regard to the duration of poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes how peer and extended networks provide young people with support and resources for dealing with disadvantage. Centering girls' accounts of growing up in the Glebe public housing estate, the difficulties they face, their critiques and aspirations are interpreted as resilience, supported by the social capital of their networks. However, the girls' accounts also explicate youth resistances to school and inevitable trouble through participation in the broader local youth network, raising questions for conceptualizations of social capital. Conflicting orientations of the networks are analyzed in terms of bonding and bridging forms of social capital. However, in specific contexts of school and community, the interrelations of social and cultural capital suggest the significance of recognition as a mechanism for differentiation of young people and for effecting marginalization and privilege. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By offering information, counseling, and tutoring, college outreach programs attempt to smooth the path between high school and higher education for at-risk students. But do these program work? This paper uses longitudinal data from the Education Longitudinal Study to construct two quasi-experiments to assess the effectiveness of college outreach. The first compares outreach program participants with a propensity score matched sample of program non-participants to measure the effects of targeted college outreach programs. The second assesses the effects of school-wide college outreach programs by comparing students in school-wide outreach high schools with students in a matched sample of high schools that offer no formal outreach. The results suggest that targeted outreach programs do little to change the educational experiences of participating students. However, there is limited evidence to suggest that school-wide outreach programs may have modest "spillover" effects, improving the educational outcomes of relatively unengaged students at participating schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use the term narrative in this article in reference to a city's own story; that is, the social, political, and economic stories that are created and maintained, both locally and nationally, about its history and geography. Our goal here is to engage with some problematic aspects of the narrative of decline that key actors and institutions in Buffalo, New York, create for and about the city. To do this we take aim specifically at one of the foundational empirical claims of Buffalo's self-description: The city is shrinking and aging. Although we do not dispute the objective reality of the population numbers per se, we suggest that the narrative of decline that has been spun around Buffalo over the past fifty years is to some extent a racially based perspective. Evidence is also drawn from the cuts sustained locally in a recent county-level budget crisis, which disproportionately placed burdens on poor communities of color. Ultimately, we critique the ways that neoliberalism has saturated cities' collective narratives of past decline and potential redemption, and suggest that these serve to justify increasing burdens on local residents, especially poor youth of color. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the cross-national challenges of integrating evidence-based interventions into existing services for high-resource-using children and youth. Using several North American model programme exemplars that have demonstrated efficacy, the paper explores multiple challenges confronting policy-makers, evaluation researchers and practitioners who seek to enhance outcomes for troubled children and youth and improve overall service effectiveness. The paper concludes with practical implications for youth and family professionals, researchers, service agencies and policy–makers, with particular emphasis on possibilities for cross-national collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A foreword to the periodical "Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy" volume XVI, symposium issue 2009 is presented.

Much research has been conducted into the poor life course outcomes among economically disadvantaged young people; however, little attempt has been made to examine the factors that help them gain autonomy and achieve a prosperous future. Given this consideration, the present study surveys low income youth in Hong Kong to investigate their paths of development. Of particular concern is the exploration of the ways in which two key factors, public assistance reception and social service use, interact to affect youth development in the areas of academic success, work achievement, behavioral adjustment, and overall accomplishment. The basic premise is that these two factors may have main effects and an interaction effect on the outcomes. To test this, the present study analyzed survey data collected from 405 low-income young people recruited from 13 secondary schools and 18 community-based youth-service centers in Hong Kong. The results support the hypothesis that public assistance reception and social service use work jointly in affecting youth development, although their individual effects differ. However, no support is found for the proposition that social service use moderates the effect of public assistance reception on youth development. The implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using evidence from Durham, North Carolina, we examine the impact of school choice programs on racial and class-based segregation across schools. Reasonable assumptions about the distribution of preferences over race, class, and school characteristics suggest that the segregating choices of students from advantaged backgrounds are likely to outweigh any integrating choices by disadvantaged students. The results of our empirical analysis are consistent with these theoretical considerations. Using information on the actual schools students attend and on the schools in their assigned attendance zones, we find that schools in Durham are more segregated by race and class as a result of school choice programs than they would be if all students attended their geographically assigned schools. In addition, we find that the effects of choice on segregation by class are larger than the effects on segregation by race. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Although environmental inequality researchers have increased our understanding of race- and class-based environmental inequality in many important ways, few environmental inequality studies ask whether children are disproportionately burdened by environmental pollution or whether poor and minority youth are less likely than their White and wealthier counterparts to spend time in green spaces and the natural world. This gap in the literature undermines the ability of researchers to fully understand and explain environmental inequality. To demonstrate the importance of filling this gap, the authors (a) highlight current research findings from the environmental health, environmental education, and environmental psychology literatures regarding the cognitive, emotional, and physical importance of childhood exposure to nature and (b) summarize the few existing studies that have examined class- and race-based inequalities in children's exposure to the natural world and industrial environmental hazards. The authors then suggest several avenues of research that would, if undertaken, significantly increase our understanding of youth-based environmental inequality. By synthesizing findings across multiple disciplines, the authors hope to convince environmental inequality researchers of the importance of investigating children's differential exposure to nature, green spaces, and industrial environmental hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various papers published within the issue including one about the notion of community capacity building and another on the orthodoxy of psychological deficit notions of under-performing youth in disadvantaged contexts.

Education and the Disadvantaged American represented an attempt by the leaders of the American elementary and secondary education enterprise to come to terms with the failure to learn of a significant portion of the school population. The dimension of race surrounded the discussion leading to publication, but it was never addressed straightforwardly. Rather, the EPC chose to bypass race in favor of various notions of cultural disadvantage or other forms of a cultural deficit model. This choice led not to an effective document, but to a publication that skirted the major issue involved in the situation, race, while being just as negative in its discussion of cultural difference as any racist might be in considering minority races. Sources for this paper include the verbatim records of the deliberations of the Educational Policies Commission, over a two year period as it considered the problem of what to do about non-learners in schools. The eventual document produced and named in the title of this article is another source. The major secondary source for the article is Barry Franklin's From Backwardness to At Risk, the most scholarly sound history of special education in the USA. Franklin's acceptance of the possible positive result in using the term “at risk” in framing policies for non-learners is called into question, however. He sees at risk as a cultural term but this is precisely how the Educational Policies Commission viewed the term disadvantage. Thus the article concludes that the term “at risk,” as used by Franklin and the organizers of ISCHE 29, has the same problematic aspects that severely weakened the EPC publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study prospectively examined the relationship between social problem solving behavior exhibited by youths at ultra-high risk for psychosis (UHR) and with recent onset psychotic symptoms and their parents during problem solving discussions, and youths'' symptoms and social functioning six months later. Twenty-seven adolescents were administered the Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes and the Strauss–Carpenter Social Contact Scale at baseline and follow-up assessment. Primary caregivers participated with youth in a ten minute discussion that was videotaped, transcribed, and coded for how skillful participants were in defining problems, generating solutions, and reaching resolution, as well as how constructive and/or conflictual they were during the interaction. Controlling for social functioning at baseline, adolescents'' skillful problem solving and constructive communication, and parents'' constructive communication, were associated with youths'' enhanced social functioning six months later. Controlling for symptom severity at baseline, we found that there was a positive association between adolescents'' conflictual communications at baseline and an increase in positive symptoms six months later. Taken together, findings from this study provide support for further research into the possibility that specific family interventions, such as problem solving and communication skills training, may improve the functional prognosis of at-risk youth, especially in terms of their social functioning. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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