In American culture, and particularly among upwardly mobile Jews, educational achievement is perceived to be of the highest importance. Much of the research into the nature of underachievement deals primarily with the identification of underachievers as manifesting a host of pathological characteristics such as poor peer relationships, negative and materialistic attitudes, social inadequacy, bad study habits, low self-concept, and poor family relationships. Within the last decade, a series of studies have been conducted at the Illinois Institute of Technology, based on the theoretical assumption that underachievement is a symptom which relates to psychopathology, and similar symptoms can occur within any pathology. Therefore, underachievement is viewed as securing a different function depending on the pathology where it is formed. This particular research has identified three distinct pathologies related to underachievement: (1) neurosis; (2) the non-achievement syndrome (NAS); and (3) the adolescent reaction. (Author/HLM)