Concerns about the welfare of young adults have received increasing public attention. Numerous magazine and newspaper articles ask “Are young adults failing to launch?” and “Are global crises creating generations of lost youth?” These questions are driven by worries that young people are either unable or unwilling to transition to adulthood, even when they have aged past traditional definitions of childhood and adolescence. In The Journey into Adulthood in Uncertain Times, sociologists Robert Crosnoe and Shannon E. Cavanagh examine whether young people today are either refusing or failing to grow up.

Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative survey data over five decades, Crosnoe and Cavanagh find that young adults are, in fact, waiting longer to take on “real” adult roles, such as worker or parent. However, this is not out of a reluctance to grow up. Instead, increased inequality and changes in the economy have forced young people to adapt their lives in new ways. Young adults are now spending more time in school, have more trouble finding their footing in the labor force, and consequently postpone getting married and having children. They also mix and match roles in more complicated ways now than in the past—going back and forth between school and work over longer periods of time or disconnecting parenthood from their romantic relationships. While the period from late teens to mid-twenties does look different now than in the past, the change has been slow and steady rather than a dramatic shift due to social crises. The Great Recession, for example, had a more muted effect on young people’s social and economic attainment and family formation than fears of a lost generation would suggest. 

Crosnoe and Cavanagh find that while the panic over young adults today may be somewhat overblown, this conclusion should not obscure some clear concerns. Young adults do struggle with their social and emotional wellbeing. They are more depressed than their counterparts in previous generations, drink less alcohol in ways that suggest less engagement with social life, and express deep distrust of social institutions and the idea of the American Dream. The authors argue that worries about the state of young adulthood today should trigger more reflection about how to support young people rather than how to fix them.

The Journey into Adulthood in Uncertain Times is a comprehensive and illuminating examination of the challenges faced by contemporary young adults.
 

How can we create high-quality learning environments for children from socially, politically, and economically marginalized groups? How do early childhood programs help to overcome the challenges created by poverty? Seeking to answer these questions, The Starting Line delves into the ups and downs of early education programs serving Latinas/os in Texas, using the state as a window into broader debates about academic opportunity and the changing demographics of the United States.

Immersing readers in the day-to-day activities of Texas's early childhood education programs, Robert Crosnoe illuminates how significant obstacles can stymie the best intentions. Crosnoe pays particular attention to the complex connections among classrooms, schools, families, and communities, as well as the frequently unfolding interplay of educational philosophies. The result is a story highlighting the promises of early childhood education, the perils faced in attempting to fulfill them, and the degree to which Texas stands at the forefront of some larger movements and lags behind in others.

Giving voice to bilingual educators and low-income Latina/o families, this book is a timely exploration of the strengths and needs of what will soon be the largest share of the US child population.