Young Adult Cohorts

Abstract

The life-span segments covered by the 15- and 18-year-old cohorts encompass many important developmental transitions, particularly in social and criminal justice arenas. Cohort members, for the most part, will be high school students, and we can anticipate that over the course of the study many will graduate or drop out, creating a transition from school to work. At the beginning of the research, the majority of subjects probably will be living with parents; later on some will move out on their own. Many also will be involved in serious, romantic relationships, some of which will lead to marriage. In the criminal justice sphere, some subjects will have accumulated substantial juvenile records, including institutionalization in juvenile detention centers or in other facilities, such as psychiatric hospitals. Finally, at a point about midway in the follow-up for the 15-year-old cohort, most cohort members will shift from juvenile to adult court jurisdiction, qualifying them for long-term prison incarceration.