ABSTRACT
Many urban youth in the United States are at a considerable risk for experiencing unsuccessful school-towork transitions (Blustein, Juntunen, & Worthington, 2000; Wilson, 1996), which increase their chances of
5 engaging in unsatisfying and low-income work (Glover & Marshall, 1993), and facing chronic joblessness and underemployment (Hotchkiss & Borow, 1996). (In this study, the term urban youth is used to denote young people who live in urban areas whose families, some of
10 whom are recent immigrants, are financially impoverished or struggling to make ends meet. Naturally, we are aware that not all urban youth are poor or working class.) Significant external challenges hinder the vocational development of urban youth, including racism
15 and discrimination, poverty, and access to fewer resources such as adequate job training and quality schooling (Constantine, Erikson, Banks, & Timberlake, 1998; Newman, 1996; Wilson, 1996). In short, urban youth, particularly racial-ethnic minority youth, often
20 experience considerable difficulty in obtaining access
to employment that is stable and meaningful (Carter & Cook, 1992; Wilson, 1996).
