The Network on Transitions to Adulthood

Overviews/General Information

Social Policy and the Transition to Adulthood [PDF] (oct 2004)
Richard A. Settersten, Jr

On the Frontier of Adulthood: Emerging Themes and New Directions [PDF]
Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., Rubén G. Rumbaut, and Richard A. Settersten, Jr.

Civic Participation

Public Scholarship and Youth at the Transition to Adulthood (2006)
Flanagan, Constance

Universities are one of the main institutions charged with guiding younger generations as they make the transition to adulthood. In light of the profound social and economic changes younger generations face, and the considerable uncertainty and flux on the path to adulthood, it behooves universities to spend more time inculcating a sense of public responsibility and connectedness in youth. The university, Flanagan argues, can be more than just a place to earn a credential. It can be a place where public scholarship is honed and the values of community and civic responsibility are instilled. This in turn can benefit both the individual and the society. As Tocqueville warned, “If people forget themselves in the sole faculty of making money . . . the future of the republic will be bleak and tyranny will not be far away.”

Young People’s Civic Engagement and Political Development (2008)
Flanagan, Constance

This chapter in the International Handbook on Youth and Young Adulthood (Routledge 2008) provides a broad overview of youth civic engagement.

School and Community Climates and Civic Commitments: Patterns for Ethnic Minority and Majority Students (2007)
Flanagan, Constance, Cumsille, Gill, and Les Gallay

Regardless of their racial/ethnic background, adolescents (average age 15) were more likely to believe that America is a just society and to endorse civic goals if they felt that their teachers were fair to and respected students and if they felt that, in general, residents of their communities pitched in to make them good places to live. The behaviors of adults in those settings communicate to the younger generation what it means to be part of the body politic and to what extent principles of inclusion, fairness, and justice figure in that process. Finally, regardless of their ethnic background, youth were more committed to the kinds of public interest goals that sustain a democratic polity (serving their country, helping people in need, and working to improve race relations) when they felt their teachers were respectful of and fair to all students and insisted on students respecting one another

Service as a Developmental Opportunity: Building Connections for Vulnerable Youths (2007)
Flanagan, Constance, Andrea K. Finlay, and Sarah Black

This article by the National Youth Leadership Council addresses whether engagement in service may have beneficial effects that would better facilitate the transition to adulthood among marginalized and vulnerable young adults.

Youth Political Activism: Sources of Public Hope in the Context of Globalization (posted Feb 2008; published 2007)
Constance Flanagan, Laura Wray-Lake, and Amy Syvertsten

The Positive Youth Development Movement, the authors argue, should take a political turn and engage youth in agitating for redress of the family, institutional, and societal inequities among youth.

A Time to Serve--- A call for national service [PDF]
In this article in Time Magazine (9-10-2007), Richard Stengel calls for the next president to institute a bold ten-point plan to build voluntary national service as a vitally important 21st century institution that can unite Americans of different backgrounds, build a strong civic culture, meet pressing community and national needs, and establish a year of service as a civic rite of passage for young Americans.

Heath

Youth During the Transition to Adulthood Face Increasing Health Risk and Less Access to Health Care
Kathleen Mullan Harris

Report in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine reports. (Report from AddHealth

Primer on Health Care Access for Young Adults with Disabilities [PDF]
Patience Haydock White and Leslie Gallay

Young Adults Increasingly Lack Health Insurance
Helen Levy (In The Price of Independence, edited by Sheldon Danziger and Cecilia Rouse)

Education

A Good Start: Two-Year Effects of a Freshmen Learning Community Program at Kingsborough Community College
Susan Scrivener, Dan Bloom, Allen LeBlanc, Christina Paxson, Cecilia Elena Rouse, and Colleen Sommo

In this randomized control study sponsored by the Network and conducted by MDRC, freshmen in a “learning community” at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, NY, moved more quickly through developmental English requirements, took and passed more courses, and earned more credits in their first semester than students in a control group. Two years later, they were also somewhat more likely to be enrolled in college. This study is part of the Opening Doors initiative sponsored by the Network. Opening Doors is evaluating programs to better engage at-risk students in community colleges.

Educating the Public: Why Teachers Matter [link]
Constance Flanagan

Building a Better Bridge [pdf] (March 2008)
Youth Development Institute

YDI’s recent paper about the college experience of youth who had formerly become disconnected from school. These young people entered and many have continued on to matriculate from a CUNY four-year college. A partnership between the New York City College of Technology and a community organization—Cypress Hills Local Development Center—supported by the Youth Development Institute (YDI), helped these young people to advance

Community Education Pathways to Success: Promising Results for Youth Who Have Dropped Out of School [PDF] (January 2008)
Peter Kleinbard, Annie Moyer, Vivian Vazquez, and Patricia Campbell, and the Youth Development Institute

In 2005, in an effort to address the needs of this underserved population, the Youth Development Institute (YDI) developed Community Education Pathways to Success (CEPS). This model provides the academic, vocational, and personal support young people with low skill levels need to become eligible for GED programs and enter the workforce. This report assesses CES's impact on studnet achievement.

The Transition to Adulthood for the Special Education Population [PDF]
Phyllis Levine and Mary Wagner

Workforce, Income Disparities, Economic Issues

The Transition to Adulthood: Challenges of Poverty and Structural Lag
Stephen F. Hamilton and Mary Agnes Hamilton

This chapter in Handbook of Adolescent Psychology asks how can institutions supporting the transtition to adulthood contribute to overcoming poverty.

Young Adults Increasingly Lack Health Insurance
Helen Levy (In The Price of Independence, edited by Sheldon Danziger and Cecilia Rouse)

Data Brief: Earnings by Education for Young Workers, 1975 & 2002 [PDF]
Sheldon Danziger

Set of briefs on various economic aspects of the transition

Transitional Jobs for Ex-Prisoners: Early Impacts from a Random Assignment Evaluation of the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) Prisoner Reentry Program
Dan Bloom et al.

Most recent MDRC on early results from study of a transitional jobs program for ex-prisoners (many of whom are young adults). Short-term results are encouraging

The Role of Social Class and Early Outlooks in Positive Transitions to Adulthood [PDF]
D. Wayne Osgood, Gretchen Ruth, Jacquelynne Eccles, Janis Jacobs, and Bonnie Barber

Is It Getting Harder to Get Ahead? [PDF]
Mary Corcoran and Jordan Matsudaira

Family Support during the Transition to Adulthood [PDF]
Robert Schoeni and Karen Ross

Primer on Health Care Access for Young Adults with Disabilities [PDF]
Patience Haydock White and Leslie Gallay

Vulnerable Youth / Disconnected Youth

Programs and Policy Goals for Helping Vulnerable Youth as They Move into Adulthood
D. Wayne Osgood, E. Michael Foster, Constance Flanagan, and Gretchen Ruth [PDF]

Building a Better Bridge [pdf] (March 2008)
Youth Development Institute

YDI’s recent paper about the college experience of youth who had formerly become disconnected from school. These young people entered and many have continued on to matriculate from a CUNY four-year college. A partnership between the New York City College of Technology and a community organization—Cypress Hills Local Development Center—supported by the Youth Development Institute (YDI), helped these young people to advance

In 2005, in an effort to address the needs of this underserved population, the Youth Development Institute (YDI) developed Community Education Pathways to Success (CEPS). This model provides the academic, vocational, and personal support young people with low skill levels need to become eligible for GED programs and enter the workforce. This report assesses CES's impact on studnet achievement.

Transitional Jobs for Ex-Prisoners: Early Impacts from a Random Assignment Evaluation of the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) Prisoner Reentry Program
Dan Bloom et al.

Most recent MDRC on early results from study of a transitional jobs program for ex-prisoners (many of whom are young adults). Short-term results are encouraging

Youth Aging Out of Foster Care [PDF]
Mark Courtney

Juvenile Justice and the Transition to Adulthood [PDF]
He Len Chung, Michelle Little, Laurence Steinberg, and David Altschuler

Transitioning to Adulthood for Young Adults with Mental Health Issues [PDF]
J. Heidi Gralinski-Bakker, Stuart Hauser, Rebecca Billings, and Joseph Allen; Phillip Lyons, Jr., and Gary Melton

Weaving Young Ex-Offenders Back into the Fabric of Society [PDF]
Christopher Uggen, Sara Wakefield, Jeremy Travis, and Christy Visher

The Transition to Adulthood for the Special Education Population [PDF]
Phyllis Levine and Mary Wagner

Moving into Adulthood for Youth with Disabilities and Serious Health Concerns [PDF]
Robert Blum, Patience Haydock White, and Leslie Gallay

Homeless Youth and the Perilous Passage to Adulthood [PDF]
John Hagan and Bill McCarthy

Challenges in the Transition to Adulthood for Youth in Foster Care, Juvenile Justice, and Special Education [PDF]
E. Michael Foster and Elizabeth J. Gifford

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