ESRC Society Today

This Programme ended in September 2003

Contact: Dr Liza Catan

Institution:Trust for the Study of Adolescence 

Projects: see below

Email: Lcatan@tsa.uk.com
Telephone: 01273 818695  
Website: http://www.tsa.uk.com/research/projects_completed/esrc.html  
ESRC Contact: Ann.Jeffcott@esrc.ac.uk

Summary:

Over the last ten years there have been marked changes in young people's situation. Staying on in education has massively increased. With the virtual disappearance of the youth labour market and the growth of training as the precursor to adult work, dependency on state or parents is extended for the great majority of young people. Moves towards the integration of economic and social policy in the European Union and the transformation of the communist countries have redefined the European context in which British young people achieve citizenship.

While some of these changes open up opportunities for some young people, others create problems of marginalisation and social exclusion. There are rising concerns about teenage crime, drugs, pregnancy, and the problems of inter-group conflict brought about by mobility of populations at a time of economic recession.

The programme's objectives were to:

• produce high-quality social scientific research on 15-25-year-olds that is also relevant to a wide range of users
• contribute to the development of theory on 'youth' and transitions to adulthood
• develop the methodological corollaries of innovative theoretical approaches by encouraging a multidisciplinary approach to the study of transitions to adulthood.   

There were 15 projects within the programme:

• Routes: a Comparative and Holistic Study of Youth Transitions in the North of England
  Prof PJ Dolton, University of Newcastle
• Inventing Adulthoods: Young People's Strategies for Transition
  Ms RS Thomson, South Bank University
• Youth, Family and Education: the Formation of the Independent Learner
  Prof I Bates, University of Leeds
• Taking Control: Agency in Young Adult Transitions in England and New Germany
  Prof KM Evans, University of Surrey
• Young People, Housing and the Transition to Adult Life: Understanding the Dynamics
  Prof JR Ford, University of York
• Youth Transitions in Europe: a 12 Country Comparison
  Ms M Iacovou, University of Essex
• The Transition to Fatherhood by Young Men: Influences on Commitment
  Prof D Quinton, University of Bristol
• Youth, the 'Underclass' and Social Exclusion
  Dr RF MacDonald, University of Teesside
• The Scale and Meaning of Drug Use in the Lives of Young People in Public Care
  Prof T Newburn, Goldsmith's College, University of London
• Teenagers at Risk: a Prospective Study of How Some Youth Beat the Odds to Overcome Family Disadvantage
  Dr JL Scott, University of Cambridge
• Living on the Edge: Understanding the Marginalisation and Resistance of Vulnerable Youth
  Prof GM Valentine, University of Sheffield
• Negotiating Transitions to Citizenship
  Prof MRA Lister, University of Loughborough
• A Longitudinal Study of Young People's Involvement in Social Action
  Dr D Roker, Trust for the Study of Adolescence
• Emergent Citizens? African Caribbean and Pakistani Young People in Birmingham and Bradford
  Dr C Harris, University of Birmingham
• Youth Perceptions of Citizenship and Security in Russia, Germany and the UK
  Dr SL Webber, University of Birmingham