Taking its departure from a conference hosted by the National Center on Education in the Inner City (Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), this collection considers developing a research base for preventive and intervention-oriented efforts to foster resilience and educational success for minority students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Emphasized in these selections are the influences that mediate the negative impact of the environments of disadvantaged youth. The following chapters are included: (1) "Introduction: The Resilience Phenomenon in Ethnic Minority Adolescent Development" (Edmund W. Gordon); (2) "The Impact of Poverty and Low Socioeconomic Status on the Socioemotional Functioning of African-American Children and Adolescents: Mediating Effects" (Vonnie C. McLoyd); (3) "The Effects of Economic and Social Stressors on Parenting and Adolescent Adjustment in African-American Families" (Ronald D. Taylor); (4) "Why Are People Poor? Social Conditions and Adolescents' Interpretations of the Social Contract" (Constance A. Flanagan, Patreese Ingram, Erika M. Gallay, and Erin E. Gallay); (5) "The American Indian Child: Victims of the Culture of Poverty or Cultural Discontinuity?" (Ardy Sixkiller Clarke); (6) "Parents and Peers in the Lives of African-American Adolescents: An Interactive Approach to the Study of Problem Behavior" (Craig A. Mason, Ana Marie Cauce, and Nancy Gonzales); (7) "Educational and Occupational Aspirations and Expectations among Parents of Middle School Students of Mexican Descent: Family Resources for Academic Development and Mathematics Learning" (Ronald W. Henderson); (8) "Attitudes toward Sexuality and Sexual Behaviors of Asian-American Adolescents: Implications for Risk of HIV Infection" (Connie Chan); (9) "African-American Adolescents and Academic Achievement: Family and Peer Influences" (Melvin N. Wilson, Deanna Y. Cooke, and Edith G. Arrington); (10) "Racial and Economic Segregation and Educational Outcomes: One Tale, Two Cities" (William L. Yancey and Salvatore J. Saporito); (11) "Developmental Considerations of Gender-Linked Attributes during Adolescence" (Dena Phillips Swanson and Margaret Beale Spencer); and (12) "Determinants of Student Educational Expectations and Achievement: Race/Ethnicity and Gender Differences" (Leo C. Rigsby, Judith C. Stull, and Nancy Morse-Kelley). Each chapter contains references. (Contains 7 figures and 28 tables.) (SLD)