"A cycle that you really can't break"

A recurring theme in my results section is the presence of cycles. Carla is the one who pointed out to me that these are really prevalent and that they are what underlies everything. I am creating a model and basically, the underlying variables (cycles, money, and definitions of success) interact with the variables in specific contexts of the adolescent's life (family, school, rural communty, and personal identity) to yield outcomes. In quantitative terms, I am suggesting that the cycles are moderators between the contextual factors and outcomes. Of course I have no intention of quantifying these data and showing statistically how there is an interaction between these variables. However, I think I can demonstrate the same relationship with these data.

These cycles are present in each of the four contexts mentioned above. In the Rural community the most prevalent cycle is the car--> job cycle. Basically, an adolescent needs a job, but in order to get that job she needs a car, and then the job becomes necessary to afford the car and no financial progress is made because all the money earned goes directly to the car. There are also cycles that revolve around transportation related to health care. One must travel to be able to use Mainecare, but without transportation one can not get health care, and if one misses several appointments due to lack of transportation, he is no longer able to receive health care with that provider. As one of my participants said "the system doesn't acknowledge the barriers and try to develop the infrastructure to minimize the barriers." So the negative outcomes of living in poverty are perpetuated.

The cycles in the educational setting are also frustrating. Both the educators and the students talked about tracking in the schools. Essentially, low income students are more likely to be in lower tracks for academic classes (even when they match their peers academically). If low income students are placed in lower academic tracks, this impacts their academic preparedness, which in turn impacts success in higher education, which impacts persistence and attrition rates, which means they aren't completing their educations and getting out of poverty. Similarly, students who are homeless face attendance issues. Some schools have attendance policies that do not award credit to students if they miss a certain number of days of school, this means that they are not graduating, not going on to higher education, and staying in poverty.

Tomorrow I will discuss the cycles on a familial and personal level.