The aim of this chapter is to investigate the long-term influence of socio-economic adversity on individual adjustment, taking into account the timing, duration and context in which the developing individual experiences adversity. The question of how individuals and environments are linked across the life course, i.e. the developmental-contextual systems perspective formulated in Chapter 2, will be re-cast in terms of a testable model of continuities in social disadvantage and individual adjustment and their reciprocal effects over time.

There is now consistent evidence that early and persistent experience of socio-economic disadvantage is a reliable predictor for the occurrence of adjustment problems in childhood and adulthood. Children growing up in socio-economically disadvantaged families are at an increased risk for a wide range of adverse outcomes including poor academic achievement and adjustment problems in later life, as reflected in own occupational attainment, social position and poor health (Bynner et al., 2000; Luthar, 1999; Rutter, 1998; Schoon et al., 2002; Schoon et al., 2003; Werner & Smith, 1982, 1992). The consequences of growing up in a disadvantaged family environment can continue into adulthood or even into the next generation (Birch & Gussow, 1970; Duncan & Brooks-Gunn, 1997; Garmezy, 1991; Rutter & Madge, 1976).