This application proposes a study of critical life transitions in almost 500 single and two-parent families placed at increased risk for emotional, behavioral and relationship problems by the extraordinary social and economic dislocations occurring in the rural Midwest. These families have been participants in two separate prospective, longitudinal studies of the family context of early and mid-adolescent development during stressful times. The earlier research produced a comprehensive multimethod, multi-informant portrayal of these families' lives. The present proposal seeks funding for three additional waves of data collection next stage in the life-course. The point of departure for the proposed investigation involves the transition to young adulthood for a cohort or rural youth who will be high school seniors during the next wave of data collection (winter, 1994). This critical stage in life encompasses perhaps more significant role transitions (e.g., work, intimacy, education) than any other, and represents an especially high risk age for diffuse symptoms of emotional distress and diagnosed psychiatric disorder. Even so, it remains one of the least studied and most poorly understood developmental periods. In the proposed project the target adolescent in transition to young adulthood is only one of several family members participating in the study. Thus, his or her passage to adulthood will be evaluated within the context of multiple family transitions. For example, many of the parents in this study are likely to 1) experience grandparenthood for the first time, 2) learn to live as a couple again with no children in the home and 3) assume increasing responsibility for their aging parents at the same time they are assisting one or more children adjust to the demands of life as a young adult. In addition, the target adolescent's own initiation into adulthood may be dramatically influenced by the successful or unsuccessful experience of an older sib in the study who first makes the transition. Similarly, the target youth's transitional experience may affect younger sibs in the family. In sum, this study is concerned with aspects of family life and earlier experience that help to shape multiple developmental trajectories and transitions. The proposed investigation locates this study of interdependent lives within the framework of a dramatically changing rural society that has been debilitated by high rates of outmigration and chronic economic strain. Thus, the research focuses on the intersection between macro-social phenomena (regional social and economic change or chronic disadvantage) and micro-social processes involving individual and family adaptation to major life course transitions.
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