RONALD L. TAYLOR is Director of the Institute of African-American Studies at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, where he is a Professor of Sociology.

• Preface Introduction: Black Youth in the United States: An Overview by Ronald L. Taylor Black Youth in the United States: Theoretical and Empirical Considerations Old Issues and New Theorizing about African American Youth: A Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory by Margaret B. Spencer Health and Mental Health of Black Adolescents by Jewelle Taylor Gibbs Multiple Contexts of Black Youth Socialization The Multiple Ecologies of Black Youth Socialization: An Afrographic Analysis by A Wade Boykin and Constance M. Ellison Black Youth in School: Individual Achievement and Institutional/Cultural Perspectives by Jacqueline Jordan Irvine and Russell W. Irvine Disparities in Employment Status between Black and White Youth: Explaining the Continuing Differential by Doris Y. Wilkinson Sexuality, Marriage and Family among Black Youth Sexual Activity, Pregnancy and Childbearing among African-American Youth by Diane Scott-Jones, A. Davis, M. Foster, and T. Hughes Sex Codes and Family Life among Poor Inner-City Youths by Elijah Anderson Special Problem Areas: Black Youth at Risk Self-Destructive Behaviors among Black Youth: Suicide and Homicide by Karen D. Weddle and Patrick C. McKenry Structural Strain: Drug Use among African American Youth by Ann F. Brunswick and David Rier Delinquency and Drug Use among High Risk Youths Over Time by Richard Dembo, et al. Adult Consequences of Adolescent Childbearing: The Longitudinal Harlem Health Study by Ann F. Brunswick and Angela A. Aidala Black Youth, Public Policy, and Social Intervention Improving the Status of Black Youth: Some Lessons from Recent National Experiments by Ronald L. Taylor Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage: Toward a Comprehensive National Policy for Social Intervention by Robert B. Hill