Coming of Age in America

Mary C. Waters is M.E. Zukerman Professor of Sociology at Harvard University. She is author most recently of The Next Generation: Immigrant Youth in Comparative Perspective, and of Ethnic Options: Choosing Identities in America (UC Press), among other books. Patrick J. Carr is Associate Professor at Rutgers University. He is the author of Clean Streets: Controlling Crimes, Maintaining Order, and Building Community Activism and Hollowing Out the Middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What it Means for America. Maria J. Kefalas, Professor in the Department of Sociology at Saint Joseph's University, is the author of Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood Before Marriage (UC Press) among other books. Jennifer Holdaway is Program Director and China Representative at the Social Science Research Council. She is the author most recently of Environment and Health in China: Cross-disciplinary Perspectives.

• ContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionMary C. Waters, Patrick J. Carr, and Maria J. Kefalas1. Straight from the Heartland: Coming of Age in Ellis, IowaPatrick J. Carr and Maria J. Kefalas2. Transitions to Adulthood in the Land of Lake WobegonTeresa Toguchi Swartz, Douglas Hartmann, and Jeylan T. Mortimer3. If You Can Make It There . . . : The Transition to Adulthood in New York CityJennifer Holdaway4. Coming of Age in “America’s Finest City”: Transitions to Adulthood Among Children of Immigrants in San DiegoLinda Borgen and Rubén G. Rumbaut5. Becoming Adult: Meanings and Markers for Young AmericansRichard A. Settersten Jr.6. ConclusionMaria J. Kefalas and Patrick J. CarrAppendix: Methods ReferencesContributorsIndex

"[The book's] tremendously rich portrait of young people's pathways provides keen insight into the intricacies, twists, and turns in the process of becoming adult." American Journal Of Sociology "Impressive... An excellent tool for discussions about adulthood and the road to adulthood for young adults." -- Hennie Weiss Metapsychology Online Review