ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the initial form and structure of the study, and reviews pertinent literature on academic success, mobility, and current trends in college-going patterns for historically underrepresented minority youth from several theoretical perspectives. Life historians have been exploring the relevance of authorial distance and the need for personal writing in the text. Challenges have also been raised that questions of personal identity should be undertaken on a cross-cultural basis. The clamor to represent and voice contrasting cultural and personal identities has challenged the traditional and dominant worldview asserted by the mainstream. Life histories of “at-risk” youth, then, result in an in-depth description and analysis of a variety of factors that includes the processes of development, and socialization that support and/or impede student success. In earlier studies conducted on a national data set, several factors were identified as being associated with an increased probability of school failure and drop out.
