The confluence of two different types of transitional processes is
explored: human development and normative ecological transitions. There
are periods of greater vulnerability than others in the developmental
life course as well as particular normative ecological transitions that
are more disruptive than others. When there is a confluence of
developmental vulnerability and a disruptive ecological transition, a
“turning point” in development may ensue. This can take the
form of an opportunity for growth and development or a developmental
mismatch. Consequently, such turning points may represent opportune
times and places at which to launch prevention/promotion programs.
A two-step analytic procedure, nomothetic analyses followed by
idiographic analyses, is described and illustrated to test the utility
of this framework. First, these issues are illustrated using the
self-esteem trajectories of low-income, urban public school students
making a normative school transition to a junior and senior high
school. Second, new data are presented on the early adolescent
self-esteem trajectories and their association with long-term
psychopathology. Third, the significance of this two-step procedure is
discussed in regard to several normative ecological transitions that
are common when older adolescents make the developmental transition
into adulthood (e.g., into full-time employment, marriage).Work on this article was supported in part by
grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH43084) and the
Carnegie Corporation (B4850) awarded to Edward Seidman, J. Lawrence
Aber, LaRue Allen, and Christina Mitchell. We express appreciation to
the adolescents and schools whose cooperation made this study
possible.