Kevin Roy and Nikki Jones (Eds): Pathways to Adulthood for Disconnected Young Men in Low-Income Communities for Child and Adolescent Development: New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, Number 143

Abstract

Pathways to Adulthood for Disconnected Young Men in Low-Income Communities, is an edited collection comprised of various studies performed to expose the unique struggles experienced by young disadvantaged men from urban and nonurban communities. The authors of each chapter present one of the unique struggles these young disadvantaged men of racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds experience in comparison to more typical adolescent experiences. Through this, their documented experiences provide a closer examination of how the process of entering adulthood can vary for individuals. Collectively, it is agreed that their individual set of circumstances influence these young men’s experiences significantly. However, each chapter evaluates a distinctive circumstance to come to this conclusion. This book’s purpose is to educate the reader on the extreme importance of healthy transition into adulthood for any adolescent, but specifically how this is an especially difficult task for the young men presented in the varying studies. This book succeeds in being an important evaluation of less known adolescent experiences that could attract the interests of scholars in the field as well as those new to adolescent studies in general. The book is successful in doing so as the theories discussed and the evidence examined offer a compelling argument. The book persuasively supports its claim that these experiences shape these young men and effectively hinder their ability to enter adulthood in ways that others might deem natural. Chapter 1, entitled ‘‘Theorizing Alternative Pathways through Adulthood: Unequal Social Arrangements in the Lives of Young Disadvantaged Men,’’ introduces the goal of the book and sets the stage for the following four chapters. Due to the research focusing solely on young disadvantaged men, it becomes clear that their distinctive interactions with their community, family, peers and law enforcement help determine the ease of their transition into adulthood. The goal is then to enlighten the reader of these intervening factors at play and how proper knowledge of these situations could help create interventions to help these young men. All adolescents are expected to transition into adulthood in a very uniform manner. However, as the book showcases, this expectation disregards diversity among adolescents. To ignore diversity and the variability of adolescent experiences can be a key reason why these young men are continuously disadvantaged. The book presents some of the reasons why these young men have even greater difficulty properly emerging into adulthood. The following chapters sustain the goal of representing young disadvantaged men’s experiences as critical examples of the nonlinear transition into adulthood and the practice of recognizing their diverse experiences as important for proper intervention and support. This introductory chapter successfully provides proper contextual information about the entirety of the book. The introduction to the studies presented in each chapter of the book allows the reader to understand the purpose of the book as well as its significance. Chapter 2, ‘‘Taking Boys Out of the Hood: Exile as a Parenting Strategy for African American Male Youth,’’ examines the challenges that parents of young adolescents face when they are living in low-income neighborhoods. The challenges faced by these parents are shown to directly affect their children’s development. As the authors show, parents in these high-crime neighborhoods have a difficult time finding supportive environments for their children’s & Jensen Lynch jenslync@indiana.edu