Transition to Adulthood in the United States: A Longitudinal Study of High-School Seniors Moving on into College and/or Work

Co-Investigators: Professors Jutta Heckhausen, Chuansheng Chen, and Ellen Greenberger

This project addresses the question how and why youth of different social, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds master or fail in regulating the transition from high school to work life and/or college in a large metropolitan area of the US, Los Angeles. This transition is particularly risky in the US, because little institutional guidance is provided for starting and establishing a vocational career. We are tracking the progress of 1086 high-school graduates from the 2002 senior class in the Los Angeles Unified School Destrict across this important transition into adulthood. Which psychological (motivation, control striving), social support (family, friends), and socio-structural (parents’ education, ethnicity) factors determine successful transitions into adult employment and/or higher education? In addition to motivational variables, we are investigating social networks, social support by peers, parents and very important adults, and the impact of parental educational background and the neighborhood.

Current and former graduate students involved in this project: Esther Chang, Ph.D. (now AssociateProfessor at SOKA University); Susan Farruggia, University of Illinois, Chicago; Laura Gil-Trejo, M.A. (now Director of Social Science Research Center, Cal State Fullerton), Michael Poulin, Ph.D. (now Associate Professor at State University of New York, Buffalo); Jacob Shane, Ph.D. (now Assistant Professor, City University of New York, Brooklyn)