Prior research on disconnected youth has defined connectedness to school or work during emerging adulthood as an either/or outcome, conflicting with research on emerging adulthood, which suggests varied, individualized pathways. This study used a growth mixture model method with data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Transition into Adulthood Supplement to elucidate developmental heterogeneity in connectedness to school or work during emerging adulthood (n = 1,977). Results indicated distinct subgroups of connectedness to school or work with additional variation within groups. Racialized group and parenting status differentiated between being fully connected or not but did not explain differences among those with less consistent connectedness. Policy implications include that the timing and duration of policies targeting disconnected youth may be missing a substantial minority of young people. Re-thinking supports for disconnected youth can be further informed by future research focused on examining factors related to individual differences in the timing and nature of connectedness to school or work.

先前对脱节青年的研究将成年初期与学校或工作的联系定义为非此即彼的结果，这与成年初期的研究相冲突，后者提出了多样化的、个性化的途径。本研究使用增长混合模型方法以及来自收入动态过渡到成年补助的小组研究的数据来阐明成年初期与学校或工作的联系的发展异质性（n = 1,977）。结果表明，与学校或工作的联系存在不同的亚组，且组内存在额外的差异。种族化群体和养育状况在完全联系与不完全联系之间存在差异，但并不能解释那些联系不太一致的人之间的差异。政策影响包括，针对脱节青年的政策的时机和持续时间可能会遗漏相当一部分年轻人。未来的研究可以进一步启发人们重新思考对失联青少年的支持，该研究的重点是考察与学校或工作联系的时间和性质方面的个体差异相关的因素。