ABSTRACT
Interest in research on urban Latino youth in the United States is closely associated with a growing national concern with what Dryfoos (1990) describes as a new class of “untouchables” emerging in our inner cities, on the social fringes of suburbia, and in some rural areas. Dryfoos describes them as “young people who are functionally illiterate, disconnected from school, depressed, prone to drug abuse and early criminal activity, and eventually, parents of unplanned and unwanted babies. These are the children who are at high risk of never becoming responsible adults” (p. 3). Recent reports indicate that of the 28 million 10-to 17-year-olds in the United States, 1 in 4, or 7 million, are prone to multiple highrisk behaviors and experiences, such as school failure, substances abuse, delinquency, and unprotected intercourse (Dryfoos, 1990). Yet these key and well-cited risk behaviors do not adequately articulate the harm done to developmental processes. Perkins and Villaruel (this volume) provide us with a more precise and expanded definition of risk behavior-that is, as behaviors/actions that can compromise or impede six basic areas of human development.1
