The Youth and Development Study represents a major investigation pertaining to the attitudes of students, their parents and teachers. A major question being asked is how and to what extent do a student's parents, teachers, and peers influence the student's attitudes about politics, integration, career aspirations and expectations, as well as a number of other topics. A representative sample of the Atlanta Metropolitan area high schools, their senior students, teachers, and parents was obtained. The students were interviewed individually, whereas the teachers and parents filled out shorter, self-administered versions of the student interview schedule. The principals completed a questionnaire concerning details about their school: enrollment, absenteeism, facilities, requirements for graduation, etc. In all, six Atlanta area high schools agreed to participate. Two were predominately white--one predominately middle class, the other predominately working class. The third was predominately black, and its students and their families belonged to the middle and upper classes. The fourth was about 80 percent black; here the class composition was primarily lower middle class. The remaining two schools, respectively, were one-third and two-thirds black and drew their students from the upper and the lower middle classes. (Author/JM)