◎ Contents PART ONE THE THEORY AND RESARCH DESIGN one Parenting in the inner city two The philadelphia study PART TWO THE FINDINGS three How they fared four How parents manage risk and opportunity five Parenting matters six Family influences and adolescents' lives seven How do neighborthoods matters? eight Adolescent competence and the effect of cumulative risk factors nine Looking ahead ten Managing for success ◎ Abstract One of the myths about families in inner-city neighbourhoods is that they are characterized by poor parenting. The sociologist Frank Furstenberg and his colleagues explode this and other misconceptions about success, parenting, and socioeconomic advantage in this text. The book launches a series which focuses on how and why youth are able to overcome - rather than succumb to - social disadvantages.; Based on more than 500 interviews and qualitative case studies of families in inner-city Philadelphia, the text reveals how parents managed different levels of resources and dangers in low-income neighbourhoods and how this management, rather than community involvement, contributed to the success of their children. The authors detail the factors that shape the trajectories of adolescents and in so doing provide information about programmes and services that should be useful to policy makers, sociologists, educators, and indeed anyone concerned with the fate of the urban poor.