Preparing Diverse Adolescents for the Transition to Adulthood

Abstract

SUMMARY Whether adolescents from immigrant and ethnic minority families will make a successful transition to adulthood hinges on their educational achievement, their acquisition of employable skills and abilities, and their physical and mental health. This article focuses on the extent to which diverse adolescents are prepared for adulthood according to these three critical developmental outcomes. It finds that, in general, adolescents from Latino and African American backgrounds appear to be less prepared to become healthy, productive, and successful adults than their peers. Specifically: * Current data show that youth from Latino and African American families, particularly foreign-born Latino youth, have more difficulty than other adolescents completing school at each stage of the educational pipeline. * African American and Latino youth aged 18 and over who do not attend college have more difficulty finding employment than white youth with similar levels of education. * In general, minority youth are more likely to be in poor physical health and to engage in high-risk behaviors compared with white youth, while immigrant youth appear to be healthier across a broad range of indicators. A key reason for these differences is that minority and immigrant youth have less access to and use of high-quality institutions and programs, including high schools, colleges, after-school programs, and health care resources. To better prepare these youth for adulthood, the authors call for improving school quality, providing financial support and health insurance, addressing information and language gaps, and building upon cultural traditions. ********** As with adolescents in any society, youth in the contemporary United States must develop a set of skills and acquire certain characteristics in order to become successful and productive adults. Although a comprehensive list of such qualities can be broad in scope and should be specific to youth's unique life circumstances, there are three developmental outcomes in particular that are known to have great significance for the adult success of all American adolescents: (1) receipt of high school and postsecondary degrees; (2) the acquisition of employable skills and abilities; and (3) the development of physical and mental health. A host of studies have indicated that the attainment of these outcomes by the end of the teenage years bodes well for the future social and economic integration of youth into American society. The answer to the question of whether adolescents from immigrant and ethnic minority families will make a successful transition to adulthood, therefore, hinges on youth's achievement of these three critical outcomes. This article focuses on the extent to which diverse adolescents are prepared for adulthood by achieving educational attainment, occupational success, and physical and mental health. A description of current trends in these developmental outcomes sets the stage. Next, the article discusses the extent to which adolescents from immigrant and ethnic minority families have access to and make use of institutions and programs that promote successful development during the teenage years. The final section of the article highlights the particular characteristics of adolescents from immigrant and ethnic minority families that need to be taken into account in order to improve access to and use of such programs. Discussion focuses upon youth from both immigrant and ethnic minority families because immigrant status is highly confounded with ethnic background. Most immigrant families originate in Asian and Latin American societies and the majority of all Asian and Latino youth in the United States have at least one foreign-born parent. (1) Information regarding the development of ethnic minority youth, therefore, provides a context for the specific situations facing adolescents from immigrant families. …