We enter the 21st century contending with the end of the Cold War's legacy of political uncertainty, expecting youth to play a significant part in the search for new principles that will bring about stability in the world political order. In forging the future, youth will have to collaborate with adults, but on terms more fitting of the historical circumstances that lie ahead than those of the past. This was the framework adopted by a group of social scientists who held several discussions to reflect on the issues and opportunities that bear on youth's civic engagement and development in the century that has just opened. The present article describes the results of those conRequests for reprints should be sent to James Youniss, Catholic

This article reviews 21 empirical studies in which the relationship between self-esteem and ethnic identity among Latino adolescents was examined. This analysis indicates that for some conceptualizations of ethnic identity there has been a positive relationship between ethnic identity and self-esteem, whereas with other conceptualizations the relationships between ethnic identity and self-esteemhave been inconsistent. The methodological limitations of the existing work are also examined. Despite the differences in conceptualization and the methodological limitations, the existing research suggests a positive relationship between degree of ethnic identification and self-esteemfor Latinos who live in areas where their Latino group composes the majority of the Latino population.

Foster youth in the United States face significant barriers in a transition to independence which is markedly abrupt compared to the 'emerging adulthood' that is expected of most young adults. While many of the difficulties that foster youth face in this transition are known at the larger demographic level, first-person narratives of the process of 'aging out' of foster care are largely missing from academic literature. To date, most qualitative studies rely on methods that are not grounded in trust-based relationships between researchers and youth (e.g. hit-and-run focus groups, interviews conducted by research assistants unknown to youth, indirect assessment of youths' emotional states). In an attempt to advance youths' own narratives, we used critical ethnography to engage youth in sharing their perspectives on the process of 'aging out' of foster care. Youths expressed anxiety about their subjective experiences of 'aging out', including economic challenges and housing instability, loss of social support, and pressure to be self-reliant. Youths' narratives during the early stages of transition from foster care provide insights for professionals, policy makers, and future research.The difficulties surrounding aging out, defined as the transition to adulthood for foster youth in the United States, are well-established in social work literature. Former foster youth experience unemployment, homelessness, criminal justice

In-depth interviews of 10 rural Latino family triads (mother, father, and adolescent) investigated the educational and occupational aspirations of parents and youth, and factors affecting those aspirations. Using a content analysis of the interview scripts, several themes emerged that described these families' experiences. In some instances, Latino parent aspirations were found to transfer to their youth. However, only one half of the parents were aware of their youth's aspirations, and most had not discussed them with their youth. Youth and parents articulated several barriers to achieving higher educational or occupational aspirations. Implications for programmatic initiatives and research are delineated.Researchers have shown that one of the best predictors of academic achievement or dropping out of school is youth educational aspirations (

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