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By Root 1286 0

sure, the latter were close to their families—in fact, growing older seemed to have improved the relationship among siblings. Both Garret and Stacey reported that they got along “better” with their siblings than they had when they were younger. Still, middle-class young adults seemed comfortable maintaining more physical and emotional distance from their families than was common among their working-class and poor counterparts. Harold shared an apartment with his older brother and his family. Katie left her daughter in her older sister Jenna’s care while she sorted things out. Katie’s relationship with her mother was more openly troubled than it had been when she was in elementary school (in part because Ms. Brindle’s drinking had escalated, as had her tendency to be verbally abusive when drunk). Still, Katie continued to see her mother regularly, socializing with her as well as with Jenna and Jenna’s family. Wendy also came home often in order to socialize with her family. Regularly interacting with family members provided bonds of support that were particularly valuable in helping working-class and poor youths meet child care needs and cope with other life challenges.

However, class-based cultural repertoires, interwoven with economic resources, continued to matter. Even as the youth grew into adulthood and became more autonomous, class remained important. Middle-class parents and their children had much deeper and more detailed knowledge of the inner workings of key institutional structures, such as high school curricula, college admission processes, and professional job opportunities, than did working-class and poor parents and their children. Middle-class parents and kids also had more knowledge about and detailed understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their specific “case,” and of the options available, given their individual situation. While all parents helped their children in many ways, middle-class parents adopted a concerted cultivation stance that included close monitoring of their young adults’ circumstances as well as many interventions. Some of the working-class and poor parents also sought to intervene, but these efforts were less frequent and less successful.

SECTION 5. SUMMING UP: CLASS AND THE TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD

When they were ten years old, the middle-class youth seemed worldly, blasé, and hard to impress. For them, pizza parties were very common and thus no special treat. Spring concerts drew shrugs. Kids readily complained to their parents about being bored when they were not occupied by an organized activity. Although the working-class and poor children were the same age as the middle-class children, they seemed younger, bouncier, and more childlike. They smiled broadly while on stage for the spring concert, were ecstatic over a pizza party, and entertained themselves for hours on weekends and evenings. Ten years later, the pattern had reversed: it was the middle-class youth who seemed younger. Now college students, they were excited about the way the world was opening up for them. They had dreams of traveling and visions of many different possible pathways. To be sure, most had experienced setbacks. Garrett had his heart broken by a girl, Stacey was told that she would never compete in collegiate gymnastics, and Melanie was disappointed when a plan to live with a friend fell through. Still, the middle-class youth seemed young and upbeat. By contrast, the working-class and poor youth were generally working full-time in jobs they did not like, and they had various pressing responsibilities such as raising children, paying for food and board, and making monthly car payments. Unlike the middle-class kids, who tended to have worked only at summer jobs, youths who had dropped out of school, such as Harold, had already spent many years in the labor force. There were many wonderful features about the lives of working-class and poor youth. Wendy loved being a mother. Billy was very excited about owning a car. Harold enjoyed hanging out with his brother and watching sports on their large-screen