Few students of psychopathology and mental health would argue that the period between adolescence and adulthood is simply a passive medium through which individuals pass untouched, a segment of the life span that has no unique impact on ongoing trajectories of functioning and adjustment. Yet the relative lack of attention given to this period in theoretical conceptualizations and empirical investigations suggests an assumption that the events and experiences constituting the transition to adulthood are relatively inconsequential to the course of psychopathology and mental health. In comparison, far more attention has been given to childhood effects on adult psychopathology. Early experiences may be critical, and deserve all the attention they are given; however, their influences on later psychopathology and mental health are likely mediated and sometimes reversed by later experiences (Cicchetti & Tucker, 1994; Curtis & Cicchetti, 2003; Sroufe, 1997; Sroufe, Carlson, Levy, & Egeland, 1999; Sroufe, Egeland, & Kreutzer, 1990). There is a clear need to devote equal attention to more developmentally proximal influences (Cairns, 2000; Lewis, 1999; Schulenberg, Maggs, & O'Malley, 2003). This is especially true from a systems perspective, where development is viewed as a function of strong person–context interactions with a temporal course given to fits and starts that correspond, at least in part, to shifts in the individual, the context, and the interaction between the two (Cicchetti & Rogosch, 2002; Sameroff, 2000). More specifically, developmental transitions, representing major life changes within individuals and in social roles and contexts, can contribute to alterations in the course of mental health and psychopathology.John Schulenberg's work on this Special Issue was supported, in part, by grants from the National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH, MH59396) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA, DA01411), Arnold Sameroff's work was supported by a grant from NIMH (MH59396), and Dante Cicchetti's work was supported by grants from NIDA (DA12903) and the Spunk Fund, Inc. This Special Issue is based, in part, on the Michigan Symposium on Development and Psychopathology: Continuity and Discontinuity during the Transition to Adulthood, held at the University of Michigan in June 2002, chaired by John Schulenberg and Arnold Sameroff, and sponsored by the NIMH-funded Center for Development and Mental Health, the Institute for Social Research, Office of the Vice President for Research, and Center for Human Growth and Development.

Normal adolescent development is often accompanied by transient emotional and behavioral problems. For most individuals with postpubertal-onset adjustment problems, there is a resolution by early adulthood and relative stability through the adult life span. But for a minority, adjustment problems escalate during adolescence and portend the development of serious mental illness in adulthood. In this article, we explore adolescent behavioral changes and neurodevelopmental processes that might contribute to stress sensitivity and vulnerability for the emergence of the mental disorders. Of particular interest is the role that hormonal changes might play in the expression of genetic vulnerabilities for psychopathology. Drawing on recent findings from clinical research and behavioral neuroscience, we describe the ways in which postpubertal hormones might alter brain function and, thereby, behavior. It is concluded that there are both activational and organization effects of hormones on the adolescent brain, and these contribute to developmental discontinuities in behavioral adjustment. Implications for adult psychopathology and preventive intervention are discussed.

Developmental psychopathologists are increasingly focused on characterizing heterogeneity of trajectories of psychological disorders across the life course (e.g., developmentally limited vs. chronic forms of disorder). Although the developmental significance of trajectories has been highlighted, there has been little attention to relations between trajectories and their etiologically and clinically relevant time-varying covariates (dynamic predictors). Depending upon the functional relation between a disorder and a dynamic predictor, we expect to see different trajectories of dynamic predictors. Thus, we propose a taxonomy of trajectories of dynamic predictors of course of disorder and provide an initial investigation into its validity. Using a mixed-gender, high-risk sample of young adults followed over 7 years, we identified dynamic predictors that covary with the course of alcohol use disorder (AUD). Based on a logically derived classification to facilitate interpretation of findings, three comparison groups were examined: persons whose AUD “remitted” (n = 33), those with a chronic AUD (n = 29), and nondiagnosers (n = 274). We hypothesized seven patterns of dynamic prediction (stable vulnerability indicators, course trackers, deterioration markers, developmentally specific variables, developmental lag markers, course-referenced variables, and recovery behaviors) and found evidence for five of them. The interpretation of markers of risk for development and course of AUDs and their implications for prevention, early intervention and formal/self-change treatments are discussed.Preparation of this article was supported by NIH Grants R37AA07231 and R01AA013987 to Kenneth J. Sher and P50 AA11998 to Andrew Heath from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Portions of this research were presented at the annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism, Denver, CO, June 2000; the biennial meeting for the Society for Research on Adolescence, April 2000; and the Michigan Symposium on Developmental Discontinuities, June 2002. We gratefully acknowledge Laurie Chassin, Patrick Curran, Andrea Hussong, Kristina M. Jackson, Jenny Larkins, Terrie Moffitt, and Susan O'Neill for providing numerous, helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.

Although the turning points theory posits that the successful engagement of the romantic and work domains in young adulthood represents an important opportunity for disrupting antisocial pathways, others have recently speculated that such turning points may be most applicable to the majority of antisocial youth who begin offending in adolescence (Adolescence-Onset [AO]), rather than those who begin early in childhood and persist (Early-Onset/Persistent [EOP]). This study was designed (a) to attempt replication of recent evidence that AOs demonstrate problem behaviors intermediate to EOP and Never Antisocial youth in young adulthood, which was confirmed; and (b) to examine the correlates of lower levels of antisocial offending among AOs and EOPs in the transition to adulthood. As expected, AOs were more likely than EOPs to desist by age 23. Nonetheless, positive work and romantic involvement between the ages of 21 and 23 were significantly associated with less externalizing problems for EOPs, but not AOs. In addition, illicit substance use and deviant peer association proved to be associated with externalizing problems at age 23, irrespective of the patterning of young adults' antisocial behavior in childhood and adolescence. Results suggest that the unique opportunities available in the transition to adulthood may hold particular promise for youth with persistently troubled early histories.The authors acknowledge financial support for this research from the National Institutes of Mental Health to Byron Egeland, L. Alan Sroufe, and W. Andrew Collins (MH40864).

Changes in conduct problems from middle school through early adulthood were examined in a sample of 1191 African American and White males and females. Predictors were selected from a number of ecological contexts to examine the relative contribution of family, peer, school, and neighborhood factors to conduct problems during the 7th, 8th, and 11th grade and across transitions in middle school, into high school, and into young adulthood. Almost all contexts made a unique contribution to conduct problems except for the neighborhood setting. The variables that had the most regular influences during each of these periods were Family Consistent Control, Family Discipline Harshness, and Negative Peers. Positive family and positive peer variables had less consistent relations to outcomes. School variables were more influential in middle school than later. Few gender or race differences were found in the patterning of predictors across time. Studies using only one or two settings as predictors of conduct problems, may provide a misleading picture of their impact by excluding other contextual influences.The authors acknowledge the Russell Sage Foundation, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Mental Health, and the following individuals (listed alphabetically) for support during the preparation of this article: Elaine Belansky, Todd Bartko, Heather Bouchey, Nick Butler, Celina Chatman, Diane Early, Kari Fraser, Leslie Gutman, Katie Jodl, Ariel Kalil, Linda Kuhn, Sarah Lord, Karen McCarthy, Oksana Malanchuk, Alice Michael, Melanie Overby, Robert Roeser, Sherri Steele, Erika Taylor, Janice Templeton, Cindy Winston, and Carol Wong.

Many delinquent youth stop offending sometime in late adolescence or early adulthood. However, little is known about individual differences in desistance and which factors promote or inhibit desistance. In the current study, young males in the oldest sample of the Pittsburgh Youth Study were followed from ages 13 to 25. About one-third became persistent serious delinquents between ages 13 and 19. Out of that group, almost 40% desisted in serious offending between ages 20 and 25. Significantly more of the desisters, compared to the persisters in serious delinquency, had been employed or in school. Bivariate analyses demonstrated many predictors of desistance of serious delinquency in early adulthood in the domains of individual, family, and peer factors measured from early adolescence onward. Multiple regression analyses showed that the following promotive factors were associated with desistance: low physical punishment by parents in early adolescence and being employed or in school in early adulthood. The following risk factors were inversely associated with desistance during early adulthood: serious delinquency during late adolescence, hard drug use, gang membership, and positive perception of problem behavior in early adulthood. The article discusses the implications of promotive and risk factors for preventive interventions.This article was prepared under Grant 96-MU-FX-0012 from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and Grant 050778 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The points of view in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the US Department of Justice. We acknowledge Rebecca Stallings for assistance in preparing the data files. Our coauthor, Evelyn Wei, has unfortunately died in a car accident.

Theoretical models and empirical studies suggest that there are a number of distinct pathways of aggressive behavior development in childhood that place youth at risk for antisocial outcomes in adolescence and young adulthood. The prediction of later antisocial behavior based on these early pathways, although substantial, is not perfect. The goal of the present study was to identify factors that explain why some boys on a high-risk developmental trajectory in middle childhood do not experience an untoward outcome, and, conversely, why some boys progressing on a low-risk trajectory do become involved in later antisocial behavior. To that end, we explored a set of theoretically derived predictors measured at entrance to elementary and middle school and examined their utility in explaining discordant cases. First-grade reading achievement, race, and poverty status proved to be significant early predictors of discordance, whereas the significant middle-school predictors were parent monitoring, deviant peer affiliation, and neighborhood level of deviant behavior.This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Mental Health (RO1 MH42968 to Sheppard G. Kellam, PI, and T-32 MH18834 to Nick Ialongo, PI) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (R49/CCR318627-03). We thank the Baltimore City Public Schools for their continuing collaborative efforts and the parents, children, teachers, principals, and school psychologists and social workers who participated.

Genetic and environmental influences on symptoms of adult antisocial behavior (AAB) and alcohol dependence at ages 17, 20, and 24 were examined cross-sectionally and longitudinally in 188 monozygotic and 101 dizygotic male twin pairs. A moderate genetic influence on both AAB and alcohol dependence was found at each age, with a substantial proportion of this influence common to the two disorders, suggesting they share susceptibility genes. Biometrical models showed that continuity effects accounted for most of the stable variance in symptoms of both AAB and alcohol dependence, indicating that genetic and environmental effects associated with each of these disorders were similar at each age. Significant cross-lag effects (effects of alcohol dependence contributing to variance in AAB and vice versa) were observed at ages 20 and 24 for both disorders. The largest and theoretically most interesting of these effects indicated that one sixth of the genetic influence on AAB at age 20 was due to genetic effects associated with alcohol dependence at age 17. Thus, alcohol dependence symptoms at age 17 in particular had an effect on antisocial behavior symptoms at age 20, suggesting that alcohol involvement in adolescence may ensnare otherwise desisting youth in persistent antisocial behavior.The present study was supported in part by grants from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (DA 05147) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA09367). We are grateful to a number of individuals for their assistance in coding and entering data that were not previously available. Our special thanks are due to Irene Elkins, Linda Springer, Kari Melchert, and Kristen Abernethy for their gracious and timely help.

The prevalence, recurrence, and incidence of depression in adolescence and young adulthood are substantial for both males and females. In this study, we examined social setting variables that influence depression in males and females from adolescence to young adulthood. Rather than focusing on single ecological factors, we examined multiple settings including families, peers, and neighborhoods using longitudinal data from 372 families living in a large eastern urban area. We found that variables related to depression differed for males and females depending on the developmental period being examined. Family and peer variables in adolescence were significantly related to change in depression during the transition to adulthood for males, whereas family and neighborhood variables were marginally significant for females. Family and neighborhood variables in adulthood were significantly related to change in depression for females, and peer variables were significant for both males and females. Overall, contextual variables in adolescence had a more significant impact on change in depression for males, whereas contemporary variables in young adulthood had a more significant impact on change in depression for females.The authors acknowledge the assistance of Frank Furstenberg for the collection of this data with funds from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Network on Successful Adolescence in High Risk Environments. The authors also acknowledge partial support for the writing of this article from a National Institute of Mental Health Behavioral Science Research Center Grant awarded to the second author.

The transition to young adulthood is both a time when risky health behaviors such as substance misuse peak and a time of opportunity for growth and development through the acquisition of adult roles. In this transition, coping styles include responses to the stressors and opportunities associated with the emergence of adulthood. The extent to which such coping styles are skillfully employed in part determines adjustment into adulthood. The current study used a high-risk, longitudinal design to examine the development of coping styles over adolescence, continuity in these coping styles from adolescence to adulthood, the impact of coping on adult stress and substance misuse, the ability of coping to buffer effects of stress on substance use, and differences in coping between at-risk youth (i.e., children of alcoholics [COAs]) and their peers. A sample of 340 adolescents completed four assessments over ages 11–23. We used latent trajectory models to examine interindividual and intraindividual change in coping over time. Evidence for both change and continuity in the development of coping from adolescence to adulthood was found, although adolescent coping had limited impact on stress and substance use in adulthood. Support was also found for complex stress-buffering and stress-exacerbating effects of coping on the relations between major life events and adult drug use and between stress associated with the new roles of adulthood and heavy alcohol use. Implications of these findings for development and adjustment in the transition to adulthood are discussed.

Semiparametric group-based mixture modeling was used with data from an adolescent school sample (N = 1205) for three purposes. First, five trajectory groups were identified to characterize different patterns of change in the frequency of marijuana use across four waves of assessment during adolescence. These trajectory groups were labeled Abstainers, Experimental Users, Decreasers, Increasers, and High Chronics. Second, trajectory group comparisons were made across eight adolescent risk factors to determine distinctive predictors of the trajectory groups. Findings indicated, for example, that the High Chronic group, relative to the other trajectory groups, had higher levels of delinquency, lower academic performance, more drug using friends, and more stressful life events. Third, adolescent trajectory group comparisons were made across 10 risk behaviors in young adulthood (average subject age = 23.5 years) and the occurrence of psychiatric and substance abuse disorders. Findings indicated some consistency across adolescence to young adulthood with regard to risk factors, and specificity with regard to the prediction of disorders. Adolescent trajectory group membership was significantly associated in young adulthood with cannabis and alcohol disorders but not with major depressive disorders or anxiety disorders.This research was supported by a grant (R37-AA07861) awarded to Michael Windle from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. An earlier version of this article was presented at the Michigan Symposium on Development and Psychopathology: Continuity and Discontinuity during the Transition to Adulthood, Ann Arbor, MI, June 14–15, 2002.

We examined two hypotheses about the developmental relation between substance abuse and individual differences in desistance from antisocial behavior during young adulthood. The “snares” hypothesis posits that substance abuse should result in time-specific elevations in antisocial behavior relative to an individual's own developmental trajectory of antisocial behavior, whereas the “launch” hypothesis posits that substance abuse early in young adulthood slows an individual's overall pattern of crime desistance relative to the population norm during this developmental period. We conducted latent trajectory analyses to test these hypotheses using interview data about antisocial behaviors and substance abuse assessed at ages 18, 21, and 26 in men from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (N = 461). We found significant individual variability in initial levels and rates of change in antisocial behavior over time as well as support for both the snares hypothesis and the launch hypothesis as explanations for the developmental relation between substance abuse and crime desistance in young men.We thank the Dunedin Study members, Dunedin Unit Director Richie Poulton, Unit research staff, and Study founder Phil Silva. Research assistance was provided by HonaLee Harrington. The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit is supported by the New Zealand Health Research Council. We also thank Alex Piquero for his helpful comments. This research received support from the NIDA (Grant DA15398 and DA13148), NIMH (Grants MH45070 and MH49414), William T. Grant Foundation, and Air New Zealand.

From a developmental perspective, work has been considered as both a deleterious and salutary experience. According to one prominent view, part-time work places adolescents at risk because it limits participation in more developmentally beneficial activities and confronts them with stressors for which they are not yet ready. If this were the case, teenage part-time work would be “stress sensitizing,” lowering thresholds of reactivity to subsequent stressors and increasing the risk of poor young-adult mental health. As a result, early work experience could interfere with adequate preparation for adulthood. A more optimistic perspective, shared by some social scientists and most parents, is that employment for the young person signifies progress in moving toward adulthood and promotes adaptation to the work environment. Challenges at work are considered to be “steeling,” fostering coping resources that alleviate the detrimental effects of subsequent stressors, especially those encountered in the workplace. These processes would promote resilience and psychological well-being in early adulthood. This research examines these alternatives, using data from the Youth Development Study (1988–2000) covering the period from adolescence (age 14–15) to early adulthood (age 26–27). The analysis indicates that the character of their teenage work experience is a source of resilience as young adults make the transition from school to work.Earlier versions of this article were presented at the World Congress of Sociology, Brisbane, Australia, July 2002; at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, August 2002; and at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development, Tampa, April 2003. This research is supported by grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD44138) and the National Institute of Mental Health (MH42843). The authors thank Michael Finch for helpful advice regarding the data analysis.

Patterns of continuity and change in competence and resilience over the transition to adulthood were examined in relation to adversity and psychosocial resources, with a focus on adaptive resources that may be particularly important for this transition. Variable-focused and person-focused analyses drew on data from the Project Competence longitudinal study of a school cohort followed over 20 years from childhood through emerging adulthood (EA) into the young adulthood (YA) years with excellent retention (90%). Success in age-salient and emerging developmental tasks from EA to YA was examined in a sample of 173 of the original participants with complete data on adversity, competence, and key resources. Regressions and extreme-group analyses indicated striking continuity in competence and resilience, yet also predictable change. Success in developmental tasks in EA and YA was related to core resources originating in childhood (IQ, parenting quality, socioeconomic status) and also to a set of EA adaptive resources that included planfulness/future motivation, autonomy, adult support, and coping skills. EA adaptive resources had unique predictive significance for successful transitions to adulthood, both overall and for the small group of individuals whose pattern of adaptation changed dramatically from maladaptive to resilient over the transition. Results are discussed in relation to the possibility that the transition to adulthood is a window of opportunity for changing the life course.This article is based on data collected as part of the Project Competence longitudinal study, which was initiated under the leadership of Norman Garmezy, and was supported through grants to Ann Masten, Auke Tellegen, and Norman Garmezy from the William T. Grant Foundation, the National Science Foundation (SBR-9729111), the National Institute of Mental Health (MH33222), and the University of Minnesota. Preliminary results of this study were presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence in Baltimore (March 2004). The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions to this study by the participants, who shared their lives over time to benefit others, and by the many research team members, students, and faculty, who added ideas and data to this endeavor over the years. The authors particularly want to acknowledge the role of Doug Coatsworth in designing the emerging adulthood assessments pertinent to this article and the current members of the Project Competence research team who improved this article through their thoughtful critiques and comments as the analyses and writing progressed.

That behavior reflects ongoing transactions between person and context is an enshrined proposition of developmental theory, although the dynamic properties of these transactions have not been fully appreciated. In this article, we focus on reciprocal links between the Pearlin mastery scale and life events in the transition to adulthood, a strategic relationship given that control orientations are thought to mediate links between stressors and a range of indicators of distress, and given that life events become increasingly likely in young adulthood. Drawing on 12 waves of data from the Youth Development Study, spanning ages 14–15 to 26–27, we examine a series of growth curve models that interrelate mastery and life events. Results for females reveal that mastery during the senior year of high school predicts life events for the following 4-year period, which in turn predicts mastery over the 5-year period spanning ages 21–22 to 26–27. For males, mastery during the senior year (and perhaps the sophomore year) predicts subsequent life events, which in turn have short-term implications for mastery. Thus, transactions between life events and mastery are observed, although the temporal patterns of these exchanges are complex. These findings are discussed in terms of the developmental properties of transactions between person and context.The Youth Development Study is supported by grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD44138) and the National Institute of Mental Health (MH42843). Support for the research reported in this article comes in part from a subcontract to the first author (“Role configurations and well-being in the transition to adulthood”). The authors thank Lance Erickson and Sondra Smolek for helpful assistance.

The purpose of this study was to examine how successes and difficulties with various developmental tasks of early adulthood relate to the course of well-being. Three waves of national panel data spanning ages 18–26 were drawn from the Monitoring the Future study (N = 3518). Based on self-reports, respondents were assigned scores (succeeding, maintaining, or stalling) to reflect progress in seven domains of developmental tasks: education, work, financial autonomy, romantic involvement, peer involvement, substance abuse avoidance, and citizenship. We identified trajectory groups of well-being (based on self-esteem, self-efficacy, and social support) that reflect diverging trajectories during the transition: steady–high versus high–decreasing, and low–increasing versus steady–low. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to predict membership in the diverging well-being trajectory groups as a function of developmental task domain scores. Maintaining or gaining a salutary trajectory of well-being across the transition was found to be a function of more success and less stalling across the developmental tasks, specifically in the work, romantic involvement, and citizenship domains. Compensatory effects (e.g., succeeding in education compensated for not succeeding in work) and threshold effects (e.g., succeeding in both achievement and affiliation domains was necessary for a salutary trajectory) were also found.This study was supported in part by a grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA01411). The authors thank Dante Cicchetti, Kate Fiori, Jennifer Maggs, Wayne Osgood, and Arnold Sameroff for helpful comments and suggestions and Ginny Laetz and Tanya Hart for assistance with the preparation of this article.

The confluence of two different types of transitional processes is explored: human development and normative ecological transitions. There are periods of greater vulnerability than others in the developmental life course as well as particular normative ecological transitions that are more disruptive than others. When there is a confluence of developmental vulnerability and a disruptive ecological transition, a “turning point” in development may ensue. This can take the form of an opportunity for growth and development or a developmental mismatch. Consequently, such turning points may represent opportune times and places at which to launch prevention/promotion programs. A two-step analytic procedure, nomothetic analyses followed by idiographic analyses, is described and illustrated to test the utility of this framework. First, these issues are illustrated using the self-esteem trajectories of low-income, urban public school students making a normative school transition to a junior and senior high school. Second, new data are presented on the early adolescent self-esteem trajectories and their association with long-term psychopathology. Third, the significance of this two-step procedure is discussed in regard to several normative ecological transitions that are common when older adolescents make the developmental transition into adulthood (e.g., into full-time employment, marriage).Work on this article was supported in part by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH43084) and the Carnegie Corporation (B4850) awarded to Edward Seidman, J. Lawrence Aber, LaRue Allen, and Christina Mitchell. We express appreciation to the adolescents and schools whose cooperation made this study possible.