Unequal Childhoods - Annette Lareau [160]
SECTION 1. METHODOLOGY OF THE FOLLOW-UP STUDY
Beginning in 2003 and continuing over the next year, I recontacted each of the twelve families in the original study.14 I conducted two-hour interviews with each target young person (by then, they were between nineteen and twenty-one years old), as well as separate interviews with their mothers and fathers and one sibling. In all, I completed thirty-eight interviews. The interviews with the twelve young adults focused on key events in their lives in the preceding ten years, including their experiences in middle school and high school, interactions with the higher education system, and work experience. Questions also probed their future goals and their views of their current situations.15 The separate interviews with the parents and one sibling asked for their assessment of how the young adult was doing; I also asked them about their roles in the young adult’s educational experiences and jobs. The interviews also gathered information about the whole family’s situation. These interviews took place mostly in the youths’ parents’ homes.16
The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed. To analyze these data, I created a series of codes on key themes (e.g., education decisions, work, perceptions of parent role, disappointments, college applications, independence) and, with the assistance of two researchers, coded the interview responses accordingly. As has been the case throughout this study, all names are pseudonyms. To further protect the young adults’ privacy, when I refer to the colleges they attended, I use the names of colleges with comparable rankings, not those of the schools they actually attended.
Longitudinal studies using qualitative methods are rare.17 I was pleased that, after considerable effort, I was able to reach all twelve young people, as well as to triangulate their information with separate interviews with other family members. Yet, as I elaborate in Chapter 14, the data set for the follow-up study has important limitations, particularly compared to the original study: there are no observational data; there are no interviews with key educators; there are no independent confirmations of the reports provided by the family members; and the reports of all interviewees are retrospective. These data constraints shape the results. For instance, it was not possible during a two-hour interview to assess how the youths used language in their daily lives. Since class differences in language use is a key theme in the original study, the inability to study it during the follow-up interviews is a limitation. Also, although I briefly discuss the young adults’ reflections on their organized activities, this topic commands considerably less space than in the original study.
SECTION 2. A DECADE LATER:
PORTRAITS OF THE YOUNG ADULTS
Youths from Middle-Class Families
Melanie Handlon (white, middle-class) and I talk in the conference room at the church where her mother still works as secretary. Melanie wears a crisp shirt and blue jeans. Her blond hair is swept into a pony tail, her fingernail polish is a brilliant red, and her full makeup is skillfully applied. She smiles broadly and although her manner is shy, she seems confident.
Schoolwork, a torment for Melanie as a fourth-grader, continued to challenge her in middle and high school. She recalls seventh grade as “horrible.” The year ended with an official recommendation that she be retained (a proposal Melanie’s parents rejected). As an eighth-grader, she was diagnosed as having an Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) learning disability. In high school, she took special education classes but still found academic work quite difficult. At various points, she wanted to drop out. During the years she was a cheerleader, though, Melanie flourished. She says she “loved” cheerleading; she eventually became the squad captain.
Despite her mother’s urging, Melanie refused to enroll in an SAT preparation course; when she took the exam, she received a combined score of 1060 [1575].18 She applied