John and Paul were friends who grew up in the same run-down housing project in a large in dustrial city. Their neighborhood was plagued by drugs and violence. By the time the boys were 10 years old and each had experienced several years of family conflict, their respective parents divorced. Each was subsequently raised, along with an older sibling and two younger siblings, by a single mother. Their fathers played only a minor role in their lives after the divorce. They were below average students in school and got into some trouble with the police as they were growing up. Both older siblings dropped out of school and spent time in prison. John finished high school and received two years of training in a local trade school. He is now 30 years old, works at a local factory, and lives with his wife and two children. John is happy, healthy, and well adapted to his life in a nice neighborhood in the city. He hopes to help send his children to college so they might have opportunities in life he never had. Paul never graduated from high school. He has been in and out of prison over the last several years, is currently unemployed, and drinks alcohol excessively on a regular basis. He has two children he rarely sees, and he was never married to either mother. Paul has lived in several locations over the years, mostly in his old, unchanged neighborhood.
These brief biographies illustrate two very different developmental paths that began at the same place....