The goal of this chapter is to address how urban dynamics at the neighborhood level are linked to children’s development. We first review trends in the spatial concentration of poverty and inequality in the United States in recent decades. Then, we turn to theoretical models describing how local communities, with a focus on urban settings, influence children’s development. We then cover methodological issues and focus on one critical issue, selection bias, and then briefly review study designs as related to this challenge. Finally, we provide an overview of empirical studies linking neighborhood, socioeconomic conditions, and children’s development, notably their educational, behavioral, and socioemotional outcomes.

Philosophers through the ages have stressed time as a critical variable in life, and developmentalists today pretend to a lifespan framework. Paradoxically, many construals of time are still neglected in developmental science. This chapter focuses on time and fleshes out three developmental perspectives on time: the chronosystem from the bioecological systems framework, transaction, and specificity.

Bioecological systems theory characterizes development as a joint function of process, person, context, and time. The principle of transaction in development asserts that characteristics of individuals shape their experiences, and reciprocally experiences shape the characteristics of individuals, through time. Finally, the specificity principle contends that understanding lifespan development depends critically on what is studied in whom, how, and when. Time fits integrally into each prevailing developmental perspective.

In this chapter, we argue that the timing of societal events in an individual’s life plays a major role in shaping that life through interacting developmental processes at multiple levels. We focus on classic research by Elder showing how two such events in historical proximity dramatically altered the lives of California children who were born at opposite ends of the 1920s, 1920–21 and 1928–29, the Great Depression of the 1930s followed by World War II (1941–45) and the Korean War (1950–53). We employ insights from both Elder’s cohort historical life course approach and developmental science including recent work on developmental neuroscience to understand the life-long impact of exposure to events that occur at different times in life, and the mechanisms through which these exposures may influence development, as well as experiences that may provide turning points in development.

In this chapter, we argue that the timing of societal events in an individual’s life plays a major role in shaping that life through interacting developmental processes at multiple levels. We focus on classic research by Elder showing how two such events in historical proximity dramatically altered the lives of California children who were born at opposite ends of the 1920s, 1920–21 and 1928–29, the Great Depression of the 1930s followed by World War II (1941–45) and the Korean War (1950–53). We employ insights from both Elder’s cohort historical life course approach and developmental science including recent work on developmental neuroscience to understand the life-long impact of exposure to events that occur at different times in life, and the mechanisms through which these exposures may influence development, as well as experiences that may provide turning points in development.

In this opening chapter we provide a chronology of the relatively recent recognition that an understanding of children’s lives across time requires that context in terms of historical time and place also needs to consider culture . Early efforts often failed to recognize this fundamental premise and instead studied children out of context.

The emergence of the life course perspective with its recognition of the centrality of changing historical contexts as necessary for an adequate understanding of children’s development was a major step forward in theorizing about children’s development. Moreover, in the past several decades, the life course perspective has also evolved and now recognizes the role of both individual and collective agency in shaping both individual outcomes and those at other levels of analysis. Moreover, as prior work has long recognized, it is increasingly accepted that secular changes co-occur and often come as a package.

For example, war, famine, migration, and economic hardship generally operate together. We also underscore the increasing appreciation of cross-disciplinary dialogue as necessary for understanding issues such as children’s genetic influences and how they are constrained in their expression by historical and environmental factors.

In this opening chapter we provide a chronology of the relatively recent recognition that an understanding of children’s lives across time requires that context in terms of historical time and place also needs to consider culture . Early efforts often failed to recognize this fundamental premise and instead studied children out of context.

The emergence of the life course perspective with its recognition of the centrality of changing historical contexts as necessary for an adequate understanding of children’s development was a major step forward in theorizing about children’s development. Moreover, in the past several decades, the life course perspective has also evolved and now recognizes the role of both individual and collective agency in shaping both individual outcomes and those at other levels of analysis. Moreover, as prior work has long recognized, it is increasingly accepted that secular changes co-occur and often come as a package.

For example, war, famine, migration, and economic hardship generally operate together. We also underscore the increasing appreciation of cross-disciplinary dialogue as necessary for understanding issues such as children’s genetic influences and how they are constrained in their expression by historical and environmental factors.

What Have We Learned?

What have we learned about the changing nature of youth transitions and the effect of the Great Recession on them? In this final chapter we draw conclusions and seek further insights from the evidence presented. First we give a brief overview, taking the discussion back to the initial questions about the recession effects to which the preceding chapters were directed. Second, we discuss the evidence in the light of key themes of contemporary youth research and draw out their intersection with life course theory. We then consider the theoretical and policy insights to be gained from the evidence reported. Our discussion focuses on young people in the USA, the UK, and Germany, but also takes into account developments across a range of industrialized countries.

Overview

What was the impact of the Great Recession on young people making the transition to independent adulthood? The overall conclusion to be drawn is that the Great Recession was a significant but not principal influence on young people's changing life course post-2007. Better to characterize it as a major economic shock that intensified the impact of preexisting economic and social processes on young people's lives. Originating principally in Western countries in the period of technological transformation and de-industrialization of the late 1970s, as the contributors to the book show, these effects presented new obstacles to entering and sustaining employment within the adult labor market. There were also wider repercussions for functioning in the family and other life domains. Although the short-term effects may have been modest, they might be followed by more serious outcomes and long-term scarring effects. There could also be lagged effects (i.e., a delay between the exposure and onset of adjustment problems) and therefore continued monitoring of life chances for young people is necessary.

The recession effects varied with each successive cohort embarking on the transition to independent adulthood, i.e., they differed for different age groups, for different countries, and between different sections of the youth population. Younger cohorts, aged 15–18 when the effects of the Great Recession began to be felt, faced heightened difficulties in gaining entry to jobs or to the vocational education and training (VET) routes that previously ensured access to them.

Over the past half century, a contextual view of human lives has emerged in the social and behavioural sciences. This perspective represents a major shift in orientation from age-specific domains, such as adolescence and young adulthood, to the full life course of human careers and development. Questions relate the developing organism to lived experience in a changing world. Distinctive of this change is the evolution of life-course theory and methods, the integration of biological models, and the rapid growth of longitudinal studies and their data archives. Few books better reflect these advances than Schoon's Risk and Resilience: Adaptations in Changing Times – an illuminating study of the life course, from birth to middle age, in two British birth cohorts. The two cohorts are distinguished by people who were born at different times.

In important respects, the framework of this project dates back to the longitudinal studies of Americans born in the 1920s. These studies generated fresh thinking about the life course by following study members into the Great Depression, World War II and the postwar era. The developmental effects of each life trajectory depended on whether they were marked by hardship, military service or higher education. Over the years a set of principles have come to define the life course framework which informs Schoon's study, life-long development, human agency, the timing of events, linked lives and historical context. The life course consists of age-graded trajectories and their life transitions, involving work and family, along with other domains.

Introduction

Each stage of life plays a distinctive role in shaping the life-course and its developmental trajectories. This applies in particular to the young adult years, which are typically marked by diversity and flux as young people complete school, enter the labor market, and establish families (Rindfuss, 1991). The recurring wars and economic depressions of the twentieth century have only added to this variability. As a rule, life changes pile up in the 20s and 30s, but a coherent life pattern usually emerges, with intimations of the future. These changes and anticipations involve interrelated domains, from education and work to health and family life. Each domain is best viewed in relation to the others.

The goal of this study is to investigate how young adult behavioral profiles foretell the subsequent life-course of men. Their achievement and emotional health at an early stage of life provide insight regarding their lifetime potential, possibly setting in motion developmental pathways. How might early achievement and emotional health account for the adjustment of men in midlife or late life, their successes and failures? Early advantages and disadvantages might accumulate, widening the gap between success and failure and perhaps strengthening the relation between accomplishment and health (Sampson and Laub, 1997). Alternatively, initial differences among men, or discrepancies between accomplishment and emotional health, might fade over time.