Mark E. Courtney Professor School of Social Service Administration

1. Research on the Transition to Adulthood for Marginalized Young People: Implications for Youth Engagement Mark E. Courtney Professor School of Social Service Administration

2. Overview • The context for concern: • The changing transition to adulthood for the general population • Why are some groups vulnerable? • Shared themes across vulnerable groups

3. Transition to Adulthood Presents Exceptional Challenges to Some • Limited abilities; difficulty acquiring skills • Youth with disabilities; special education students • Unreliable or non-existent familial support • Foster care youth; runaway and homeless youth • Tasks of the transition likely to be daunting • Youth with disabilities or mental illness • Systems may have exacerbated problems • Formerly incarcerated; special education

4. Focus on Vulnerable Populations Involved in Service Systems • Need recognized during childhood and adolescence • They have depended on public systems • For assistance and services • Often for many years • Transition to adulthood brings loss of support from systems • In some instances phased out • In others, involvement ends abruptly

5. Government Services at the Transition to Adulthood • Because no longer children, government assumes less responsibility • Recognize dependence of children, but not dependence of youth in transition • Ages 18 - 21: eligibility for services either ends or greatly declines • Professionals rarely trained to address special needs of transition period

6. Selected Vulnerable Populations • Youth “Aging Out” of Foster Care • Youth involved in the juvenile and adult corrections systems • Homeless and Runaway Youth • Youth Involved in Special Education • Youth with Serious Mental Disorders • Youth with Physical Disabilities On Your Own Without a Net: The Transition to Adulthood for Vulnerable Populations Editors: D. Wayne Osgood, E. Michael Foster, Constance Flanagan, & Gretchen R. Ruth University of Chicago Press, 2005

7. More than Vulnerability • Potential for positive development • Despite risk, many will succeed • The theme of resilience • Attend to strengths as well as deficits • Protective factors as well as risk • Youth take active role in own success • The theme of social inclusion • Society enriched by their participation • Not just assistance, but reciprocity • Entitled to rights and pursuit of own interests

8. Shared Themes Across Vulnerable Populations • Poor early adult outcomes • Some groups (males; the poor; racial/ethnic minorities) overrepresented in all populations • Each population is highly diverse • Considerable overlap among populations • Factors that promote successful transition to adulthood

9. Early Adult Outcomes of Vulnerable Youth • Less Successful in Entering Adult Roles • Family roles: such as marriage, parenthood • Education and training • Employment • Difficulties Managing Adult Life • Finding affordable housing • Maintaining health • Avoiding high risk activities • Youth with Multiple Risks Least Successful

12. Groups Overrepresented in All 7 Vulnerable Populations • Youth of Color • The Poor: Individual and Community • Males • Likely reasons • Differences in exposure to causes • Differences in behavior • Differences in reactions by authority figures • Differences in available systems of care

13. Each Vulnerable Population is Highly Diverse • Not all are minority, poor, and male • Diversity of problems • Type of problem • Severity of problem • Prior involvement in service systems • Depth, duration • Produces • Differences in needs • Differences in resources

14. Overlap Among Vulnerable Populations • Sizable portions of each system are in others as well • For instance, foster care and criminal justice; physical disabilities and special education; juvenile justice and mental health; etc. • Distinctions among populations often arbitrary • Partly co-morbidity • Partly multiple systems addressing same issue

15. Factors that Promote Successful Transition to Adulthood • Success at School • Support from Family • Healthy Relationships with Friends • Certain Personality Traits • Such as persistence and confidence • Failure is Not Inevitable!

16. Subgroups Provide More Clarity for Policy and Practice Keller, Cusick, & Courtney (2007) used Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to identify subpopulations at age 17-18 (n = 732) defined by distinctive profiles on indicators reflecting multiple domains of life experience Analysis resulted in four distinctive groups: Distressed and Disconnected 43%; Competent and Connected 38%; Struggling but Staying 14%; Hindered but Homebound 5% Group membership at 17-18 is strongly associated with several distinct transition outcomes at age 21: education; employment; parenthood; incarceration More recent study used key transition indicators to classify youth at age 23-24 (n = 584) using LCA: living arrangement; educational attainment; employment; resident and non-resident children; conviction since 18

17. Distribution of Former Foster Youth by Latent Class at Age 23-24 (Courtney, Hook, & Lee, 2012)

18. Group 1: Accelerated Adults (36%) Most are female (63%) Most likely to live on their own in fairly stable situation Almost all (98%) have a HS degree or more; 52% have some college Most likely to be currently employed Nearly half (46%) has resident children Relatively low rate of conviction (14%) Group does not stand out on other indicators of functioning (e.g., social support; health; MH and AODA problems; economic hardships) Summary: This group is most likely to have made key transitions relatively early in adulthood

19. Group 2: Struggling Parents (25%) Most are female (74%) Nearly all (91%) have resident children and relatively few (8%) have a non-resident child About equal numbers have their own place (46%) or live with relatives/friends (44%) Most likely not to have a HS degree (44%) and only 3% have any college Only one-quarter currently employed Lower than average rate of conviction (14%) Also…least likely group to be currently in school, most likely to be married or cohabiting, second lowest reported social support, and most likely to experience economic hardship Summary: This group’s experience is dominated by their parenting, under difficult circumstances

20. Group 3: Emerging Adults (21%) Slightly over half are male (55%) All are living with friends, relatives, or in other settings that are not their own Vast majority (91%) has finished high school and they have the second highest rate of having at least some college (46%) They have the second highest rate of current employment (63%) They are least likely to have children (27%) and over two-thirds of those with children have non-resident children Lowest rate of conviction (6%) Also, they are least likely to have ever been married, to have ever dropped out of high school, and to have ever been homeless Summary: This group most resembles Arnett’s (2000) “emerging adults” in that they are delaying some transition markers (e.g., living on their own; finishing school; having children) while generally avoiding hardship

21. Group 4: Troubled and Troubling (18%) Vast majority is male (83%) Are most likely to be incarcerated, otherwise institutionalized, homeless, and/or to have experienced high residential mobility (72%) Two-fifths have not finished high school or GED and only 11% have any college Least likely to be currently employed (10%) 48% have non-resident children; none have resident children 82% report a criminal conviction since age 18 Also, least likely to have felt prepared to be on their own at exit from care, most likely to report mental health and/or substance use problems, lowest reported levels of social support, highest rate of victimization, four-times higher rate of non-violent crime and doubled rate of violent crime compared to other groups Summary: This group experiences a wide range of psychosocial problems and poses challenges to the community

22. Homelessness Among Former Foster Youth Analyzed prevalence and predictors of homelessness among Midwest Study participants (Dworsky, Napolitano, & Courtney, 2013) “Ever been homeless for at least one night” defined “homeless” as “sleeping in a place where people weren’t meant to sleep, sleeping in a homeless shelter or not having a regular residence in which to sleep” Between 31% and 46% of Midwest Study participants had been homeless at least once by age 26 years Risk factors: Running away while in foster care; greater placement instability; being male; having a history of physical abuse; engaging in more delinquent behaviors; and having symptoms of a mental health disorder Extended care in Illinois was associated with delayed homelessness

23. Implications for Policy • Distinct subgroups at the age of majority and during early adulthood suggest the need for targeted, developmentally appropriate policy and practice • Subgroup status at 17-18 does not determine later status, but is predictive; Distressed and Disconnected youth were nearly four times more likely than the Competent and Connected youth to be in the Troubled and Troubling group at 23-24 • A large group mainly needs support making the transition to higher education and succeeding there • About one-fifth needs significant intervention, perhaps for many years, with a range of psychosocial problems • Parents as a distinct group arguably need distinct kinds of support • Engaging each of these groups requires somewhat distinct strategies

24. Implications for Policy • A wide variety of public systems should be accountable for engaging young people (Courtney, 2009) • Courts • Educational institutions • Employment services; welfare-to-work • Housing services • Health, mental, and behavioral health systems • Justice systems • Communities • Youths’ distinct needs call for differential involvement of these institutions to ensure youth engagement • Youth themselves have invaluable insight and have made major contributions to policy and program development!

25. For more info:http://www.chapinhall.org/research/report/midwest-evaluation-adult-functioning-former-foster-youth http://transitions2adulthood.com/