Lifelines and risks

by Robert B. Cairns

In this highly original work, Robert and Beverley Cairns follow the pathways of 695 young people growing up over a fourteen year period, addressing basic questions on the patterns of development among youth in the transition from childhood to adulthood. Why is one trajectory adopted and another avoided in the course of development? And if a deviant pathway is selected are there opportunities for change? They conclude that life trajectories are predictable to some extent and are not fixed by genes or by early experience, but by correlated social constraints and illustrations drawn from the...

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