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The transition to high school has been identified as a potentially difficult time in adolescents' lives. Reductions in both academic and social functioning often accompany this transition. While these effects have been documented in urban youth, the move to high school has not been extensively studied in rural minority youth. Toward that end, the academic grades and substance use in ninth grade of 447 (184 male and 263 female) African-American adolescents from two rural counties in a state in the deep South were examined in relation to configurations of adaptation from sixth through eighth grade. Results indicate that individual with consistently positive patterns across middle school had higher grades and lower rates of substance use compared to individuals with persistent difficulties or those that transitioned to problem behavior. Many individuals who improved in their patterns of adaptation had relatively high grades, but also rather high rates of substance use in the ninth grade.

This study examined community adults' conceptions of successful early adult outcomes for rural African American adolescents from 2 low-resource communities in the Deep South. Focus groups were conducted with parents, teachers, and community leaders. Parents also completed semistructured phone interviews. The focus groups identified 2 general types of successful outcomes. One type involved youth leaving their hometowns to attain their educations and establish careers and then reconnecting with the community (i.e., "giving back"). The 2nd type involved youth establishing themselves in the community as employed adults to support themselves and their families. Parents also described a variety of successful outcomes related to education, employment, living arrangements, and family and community involvement. Barriers to success included involvement with drugs and alcohol, peer pressure, and a lack of community-level supports (e.g., jobs, youth programs, extracurricular activities, educational opportunities). (Contains 1 table.)