Lifelines and Risks

In this work, Robert and Beverley Cairns follow the pathways of 695 young people growing up in the 1980s and 1990s: their educational successes and failures, their friendships, their families, their loves - in short, the events and feelings they experienced in the course of living. The focus is on risks - the events that produce serious and permanent impairment of psychological and emotional development, or injury and death - and lifelines - the avenues by which redirection and help may be provided. They consider the specific risks of violence, deviant social groups, school dropout, suicide, threats to self-esteem, and substance abuse. Lifelines held out to these youth include persons - parents, friends, teachers, spouses, lovers, relatives, or children - and internal values, beliefs, and maturation.