PHILADELPHIA- Frank Furstenberg, professor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, has received a four-year, $5.2 million grant from The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in support of the Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood, which he chairs.

The Network, established in 2000 with MacArthur support, examines the changing nature of early adulthood and the new challenges facing people aged 18 to 34 as they make the transition to become self-sufficient adults.

During the past four years, the Network has conducted interviews and gathered data to map the transition and how it varies for specific populations.  What is emerging from the early research is an understanding in the research community and key social institutions that early adulthood is a distinctive life stage.

The MacArthur grant will be used to fund the final stages of research exploring the psychological and social dimensions of development that occur as individuals move from their late teens to early thirties. The Network will study three programs: "Opening Doors" at select community colleges, the Defense Department's "National Guard Challenge" and Americorps.

"We hope that by studying the psychological development of young people as they become adults and examining the relevance of the institutions that had originally accompanied them during their journey to adulthood, we will be able to shed light on the needs of young people to help them as they prepare for adulthood.  This calls for reexamining a number of public policies,Furstenberg said.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, with headquarters in Chicago, is a private, independent grant-making institution dedicated to helping groups and individuals foster lasting improvement in the human condition.