The path adolescents take from childhood to adulthood is a product of social, economic, political, and technological forces. These forces may facilitate youths preparation to become healthy adults, or they may leave youth unprepared for adulthood. Knowledgeable projections are vital in shaping the agenda for research; for alerting educators, policy makers, and practitioners to new issues; and for formulating thoughtful responses to emerging dilemmas. This book focuses upon the future of adolescence in postindustrial societies. The authors identify some ominous societal changes that will affect youth: unstable job markets, competition for public resources due to an aging population, and widening income gaps between information workers and low-skill workers. But they also observe opportunities created by information technology, innovations in health service delivery and criminal-justice rehabilitation, and the resourcefulness of a new generation. This volume examines these and other macro-structural changes that will impact adolescents lives and their futures as adults. Chapters include: (1) Macrostructural Trends and the Reshaping of Adolescence (Jeylan T. Mortimer and Reed W. Larson); (2) Youth in Aging Societies (Elizabeth Fussell); (3) The Transition from School to Work (Alan C. Kerckhoff); (4) Criminal Justice in the Lives of American Adolescents: Choosing the Future (Francis T. Cullen and John Paul Wright); (5) Adolescent Health Care in the United States: Implications and Projections for the New Millennium (Elizabeth M. Ozer, Tracy Macdonald, and Charles E. Irwin, Jr.); (6) Youth and Information Technology (Ronald E. Anderson); (7) Social Space, the Final Frontier: Adolescents on the Internet (Kate Hellenga); and (8) Approaching Policy for Adolescent Development ion the 21st Century (James Youniss and Allison J. Ruth). Each chapter contains references. (GCP)