Published: May 1, 1995

Against All Odds

According to the professional literature, this young woman's unpromising beginnings should have pointed to an unpromising future. That did not, however, turn out to be the case.

Evelyn bounced back. She stayed out of trouble in high school and graduated with honors. Now 19, she is a sophomore at Southern Illinois University and plans to go into public relations after graduation. Many of the high school friends who joined her at college have since either dropped out, transferred to a community college, or joined the Army. But Evelyn perseveres. What's more, she has broken a chain of teenage pregnancies that spanned two generations in her family. Her mother and grandmother both bore children as teenagers.

Young people like Evelyn, who seem to manage--even excel--despite adversity, fascinate education researchers and experts on child development. Their experiences raise an important question: Why do some children succeed in the face of adversity while others--growing up in the same circumstances and sometimes...