The proposed research tests hypotheses about developmental processes linking childhood and adolescent characteristics to adult labor-market outcomes, with special emphasis on the problem of youth unemployment. Specific hypotheses address: (a) the developmental antecedents of unemployment; (b) the pathways and mechanisms mediating the influence of early developmental risk factors on later unemployment; (c) whether unemployment during the initial period of exist from school has a """"""""scarring"""""""" effect on young adults' health; (d) relations between unemployment and psychiatric disorders & criminal participation; (e) whether re-employment can reduce the risk of psychiatric disorder among the unemployed; and (f) a comparison of findings across sites in two countries. Labor market experiences will be measured in the longitudinal Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, which follows a representative 1972 birth cohort of 1,000 New Zealand men and women to age 26. Findings will be replicated and extended by assessing labor market experiences in the longitudinal Pittsburgh Youth Study, which follows a high risk 7th grade cohort of 500 Black and White urban American men to age 24. Analyses will ascertain relations between sample members' employment experiences and family, psychosocial, and health variables drawn from extensive longitudinal data gathered over many years for these two cohorts. By comparing results across sites in two different nations, the applicants aim to document which findings about unemployment and mental health are robust enough to inform theory, practice, and policy.
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