ABSTRACT
The common-sense position is that children who grow up in decent neighborhoods and well-integrated families and who have parents and other close role models who communicate interest, caring, and support, but who also convey high but realistic expectations and standards, are substantially protected against significant risks associated with the adolescent developmental period. Social development is extraordinarily complex, and no single factor will be explanatory. Social class is important because it potentially affects a very broad range of important influences including access to knowledge, material resources, self-esteem, personal mastery, cognitive complexity, and many others. The massive literature on the effects of social stratification on life chances and health make clear that youngsters who grow up in poverty must overcome innumerable obstacles. The optimal initiatives to redirect existing trends and to lessen risk among youth remain unclear.
