When life course development goes astray, especially in early childhood and adolescence, it frequently does so in a variety of interrelated ways. These interrelationships often unfold cross-sectionally, in clusters of high-risk problem behaviors, and longitudinally, in sequences of these involvements (Jessor & Jessor, 1977). These clusters and sequences complicate our pictures of life course development, especially when combined with the knowledge that there is no single cluster or sequence that is clearly predominate, and that the risks of youth development often coalesce and cascade into series and patterns of life events that can mutate and accumulate in highly contingent ways. This is to be expected because less problematic and more rewarding patterns of human development are similarly multifaceted, and because there is no reason to expect that the evaluation of behaviors as bad or troublesome should make them more tractable. The complexity of these patterns is a challenge to efforts to synthesize research on youth development. This chapter argues that conceptualizing youth development as a capitalization process can assist us in recognizing some advances that have been made in this field of research while simultaneously suggesting avenues for further work.

The risks and rewards of youth

At the extremes, individuals and their behaviors can be seen as coalescing in clusters that represent a polarization of possibilities in adolescent development. Although no single study provides a comprehensive inventory of the behavioral possibilities, this volume provides a broad picture of risk-prone in contrast with more rewarding paths of youthful development.