This exploratory study examined the factors that contribute to the educational and employment challenges typically experienced by vulnerable emerging adults. The researcher purposively recruited eleven low-income participants ages 19-23 who were engaged in a work or school transition at time of entry to the study. The youth were tracked for an average of 3.8 months each, during which time they participated in five in-person meetings. To triangulate the data and increase validity, the researcher also conducted 9 phone interviews with "someone who knows you well", an individual identified by each participant. Data were collected between March 2006 and February 2007. The research design and analysis were informed by a conceptual framework integrating ecological, life course, and emerging adulthood theories.

A typology of participants' work and school transitions emerged from the data. Planning and progress were found to capture a large part of the variation observed. Planning is defined broadly to include the educational and vocational preparation, referral, and advising efforts of the participants and their support systems. Progress is engagement in productive activity that helps the participant advance towards his or her self-defined educational and/or vocational goals. With planning and progress as the axes in a two-by-two matrix, participants' experiences of work and school transition were thus categorized: steady progress, planned exploration, accidental exploration , and frustrated aspiration.

Results also describe youths' experiences of social support, both from natural helpers and formal service providers, in detail. Three components of support were identified: tangible, teaching and mentoring, and developmentally appropriate connection. The elements of developmentally appropriate connection include availability, investment, recognition, safety, and interdependence .

The dissertation concludes with a discussion of the practice, policy, and research implications of these findings.