This interdisciplinary volume presents international research and theories focusing on the development of the individual across the life span. Centering on "family" as the key context influencing, and being influenced by the developing person, the contributors to this volume discuss an array of theoretical models, methodological strategies, and substantive foci linking the study of individual development, the family system, and the broader context of human development. The volume presents continuing empirical research and theories in the realm of individual and family development and features a developmental, contextual view from a process-oriented vantage point.

This book presents the results of the longitudinal 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. The volume discusses how self-regulation and contextual resources (e.g., strong relationships with parents, peers, and the community) can be fostered in young people to contribute to the enhancement of functioning throughout life. Each chapter examines a particular aspect of youth thriving, and offers findings on either the bases or the role of positive development in a variety of outcomes, from reduced risk of emotional problems and harmful behaviors to increased participation in the community. Contributors introduce a contemporary model of positive development for diverse youth, provide examples of effective youth development programs, and suggest applications for informing the next generation of policies and practices. Among the featured topics: The regulation of emotion in adolescence. School engagement, academic achievement, and positive youth development. Peer relationships and positive youth development. Identity development in adolescence and the implications for youth policy and practice. Promoting adolescent sexual health in youth programming. A positive youth development approach to bullying. Researchers in developmental psychology as well as practitioners in educational or youth development programs or policies will gain from Promoting Positive Youth Development a new appreciation of the central role of young people's strengths, and initiatives to build effective youth programs. "This volume is destined to become the handbook for anyone interested in the bourgeoning field of positive youth development. Based on ground breaking, longitudinal research from top researchers in the field, Promoting Healthy Development for America's Youth presents a rich, theoretically grounded understanding of the landscape today's youth and programs. The contributors provide clear, data-driven guidance regarding the types of programs and settings that are most beneficial to young people." Jean E. Rhodes, Ph.D. Frank L. Boyden Professor Department of Psychology University of Massachusetts, Boston

Developmental Assets and Asset-Building Communities examines the relationships of developmental assets to other approaches and bodies of work. It raises challenges about the asset-building approach and offers recommendations for how this approach can be strengthened and broadened in impact and research. In doing so, this book extends the scholarly base for the understanding of the character and scope of the systemic relation between young people's healthy development and the nature of developmentally attentive communities. The chapters in this volume present evidence that asset-building communities both promote and are promoted by positive youth development, a bi-directional, systemic linkage that - consistent with developmental systems theory - further civil society by building relationship and intergenerational places within a community that are united in attending to the developmental needs of children and adolescents.

Service learning, as defined by the editors, is the generation of knowledge that is of benefit to the community as a whole. This seventh volume in the Outreach Scholarship book series contributes a unique discussion of how service learning functions as a critical cornerstone of outreach scholarship. The sections and chapters of this book marshal evidence in support of the idea that undergraduate service learning, infused throughout the curriculum and coupled with outreach scholarship, is an integral means through which higher education can engage people and institutions of the communities of this nation in a manner that perpetuate civil society. The editors, through this series of models of service learning, make a powerful argument for the necessity of "engaged institutions."

Lawton Chiles GovernorofFlorida, 1991-1998 Social Change, Public Policy and Community Collaborations: Training Human Development Professionalsfor the Twenty-First Century is more than the name of the Third National Applied Developmental Science Conference; it is more than the name of a book prepared from the proceedings of this conference. It describes one of the largest and most complex challenges facing state government, higher education and communities in the coming decade. The answer to this challenge will not be found in a college or program in our higher education institution nor in laws conceived and written in state capitals. The answers to this challenge are to be found at the place where academia, public policy, and communities meet. The problems and issues that are facing our children and families will require that all the players work together to develop community-driven programs, designed and evaluated using current research and staffed by highly trained professionals. It will be critical that academia, policy makers, legislators, and community members work together to ensure that the programs we design work. We must ensure that research is being conducted so that programs that work better are continued and programs that don't are stopped.

A consistently identified criticism about contemporary higher education is that academia is not playing a visible role in contributing to the improvement of the lives of people in the community - as the lives are lived on a day-to-day basis. However, there has been a long tradition of such `Outreach Scholarship' in America, and this focus is gaining renewed attention, at least in part, because policy makers and philanthropic organizations are pressing universities and colleges to use their learning resources in ways that more directly benefit society. Universites have listened to, and continue to heed, such appeals. Serving Children and Families Through Community-University Partnerships: Success Stories illustrates such work by presenting several dozen exemplary `success stories' of community-university partnerships that serve to enhance the lives of children, youth, and families. These illustrations are drawn from collaborations across the breadth of the nation and reflect the work of many diverse colleges and universities. Moreover, these partnerships involve an array of target audiences, ranging across the individual life span from infancy through old age and involving a diverse set of groups and organizations. In addition, this work takes many forms, for example, technical assistance, evaluation, training, program design and delivery, demonstration or participatory, action research, and dissemination. The book is useful to two broad audiences: (1) Individuals, in and out of academia, in decision-making roles that directly impact what gets done or does not get done in colleges and universities; and (2) Persons outside academia who are concerned with creating positive change across a wide-range of issues pertinent to the lives of youth, families, and communities. This volume will guide universities and communities to work together to promote positive development in the diverse children, families, and communities of our nation.

This serial publication continues to review life-span research and theory in the behavioral and social sciences, particularly work done by psychologists and sociologists conducting programmatic research on current problems and refining theoretical positions. Each volume introduces excellent peer-reviewed empirical research into the field of life-span development while presenting interdisciplinary viewpoints on the topic. Often challenging accepted theories, this series is of great interest to developmental, personality, and social psychologists.

Comprised of papers written by members of the Social Science Research Council Subcommittee on Child Development in Life-Span Perspective, this book provides a representation of the current status of the relation between child development and the life- span. It suggests the possible synthesis of these two fields from both conceptual and empirical evidence. Theories and methods concerning the social, psychological, and anatomical influences on children's cognitive development through adolescence are highlighted.

Family Diversity and Family Policy describes the dimensions of diversity which characterize the contemporary American family and discusses the implications for public policy and associated intervention programs linked to this diversity. The authors contend that if the programs and policies available to support families are to be most useful, they need to reflect the diversity of the families they intend to help. Beginning with a discussion of the historical and contemporary context of the American family, Family Diversity and Family Policy focuses on child poverty and argues that this topic may be usefully studied within the context of developmental systems theory. This theory systematically links the development of individuals to variations in their physical and social ecology, and is used as a framework for discussing: Contemporary challenges faced by parents charged with rearing adolescents, and the familial and societal issues that arise when the adolescents being reared are parents themselves. Current policy issues that arise from welfare debates in the United States and from recently-enacted welfare reform legislation. The importance for our nation of developing a comprehensive national youth policy. The authors draw implications for the design, delivery, and evaluation of diversity-sensitive policies and programs for families and youth, and offer a vision of how to link scholars, policy makers, and community members in multi-professional and multi-institutional collaborations promoting the positive development of American families and youth. Family Diversity and Family Policy is relevant to scholars and policy makers interested in human development, particularly of children andadolescents. In addition, it should be essential reading for practitioners and policy makers in government, private industry, and public and private social service organizations.

Originally published in 1983, the purpose of this book was to discuss the relations between philosophy and developmental psychology, as those relations existed over the course of the history of the discipline and as they existed at that time. Although not all portions of developmental psychology are surveyed, major proponents of several key areas are represented (e.g. organismic developmental theory, stage theory, life-span-developmental psychology, and the ecological approach to development). In addition, discussion of many currently prominent issues are included (e.g. constancy and change in human development, the use of multivariate models and methods, the role of the context in individual development, and the use of developmental theory in public policy and political arenas). The diversity of approaches and of interests present in the book are representative of the breadth of theoretical and empirical interests found in developmental psychology at the time.

This volume brings together a broad group of scholars from a diverse array of disciplines to write integratively about cutting-edge research issues pertinent to various facets of the study of early adolescence. All contributors speak to the idea of interdisciplinary integration as a means of advancing knowledge in particular focus areas of early adolescence; all approach their topic with an orientation to integrating levels of organization. In so doing, they testify to the importance of two interrelated integrations -- multidisciplinary and multiprofessional -- for furthering understanding of young adolescents.

Volume 45 of "Advances in Child Development and Behavior" includes chapters that highlight some the most recent research in the area of embodiment and epigenesis. A wide array of topics are discussed in detail, including multiple trajectories in the developmental psychobiology of human handedness and the integration of culture and biology in human development.

Each chapter provides in-depth discussions, and this volume serves as an invaluable resource for developmental or educational psychology researchers, scholars, and students.

Chapters that highlight some of the most recent research in the area. A wide array of topics are discussed in detail

The final volume in this significant series, this publication mirrors the broad scientific attention given to ideas and issues associated with the life-span perspective: constancy and change in human development; opportunities for and constraints on plasticity in structure and function across life; the potential for intervention across the entire life course (and thus for the creation of an applied developmental science); individual differences (diversity) in life paths, in contexts (or the ecology) of human development, and in changing relations between people and contexts; interconnections and discontinuities across age levels and developmental periods; and the importance of integrating biological, psychological, social, cultural, and historical levels of organization in order to understand human development.

Scientific research and science-guided practice based on the promotion of an individual's strengths constitutes a radical shift in a new and growing area of study within the field of human development. Its trademark term is positive youth development'. This approach to human development is based on the idea that, in addition to preventing problems, science and practice should promote the development of competencies, skills, and motivation in order to enhance individuals' developmental pathways.

Approaches to Positive Youth Development, is based on this concept and brings together authors from across Europe and America who are leaders in their respective fields. The main focus of the book, beyond a clarification of the paradigmatic foundations, concerns the major contexts of adolescents and young adults, namely, neighbourhoods and leisure locales, school and family, and the major themes of healthy psychosocial development, namely, competences and knowledge, prosocial behaviour, transcending problems of delinquency, civic engagement, identity, agency, and spirituality.

First published in 1987, Biological-Psychosocial Interactions in Early Adolescence explores the mutually - influential relations between biological and psychosocial variables as the basis for development in the early portions of the adolescent period and, in fact, across the entire life span. The volume introduces key conceptual and methodological issues that are raised by the study of biological-psychosocial interrelations. It provides key foundations for the research conducted in major laboratories in USA back in 1980s. It also provides the results from these laboratories and their progress at that time. This book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of psychology, behavioural science, and sociology.

This volume continues the tradition of the Life-Span Development Series, presenting overviews of research programs on a variety of developmental topics. Research and theory in life-span development have given increased attention to the issues of constancy and change in human development and to the opportunities for, and constraints on, plasticity in structure and function across life. Acknowledging the need for and existence of interconnection between age and developmental periods, it focuses on conditions for possibly discontinuous development that emerge at later periods. Contributors to this series are sensitive to the restrictive consequences of studying only specific age periods, such as old age, infancy, or adolescence. Each scholar attempts to relate the facts about one age group to similar facts about other age groups, and to move toward the study of transformation of characteristics and processes over the life span.

Volume 44 of "Advances in Child Development and Behavior" includes chapters that highlight some the most recent research in the area of embodiment and epigenesis.

A wide array of topics are discussed in detail, including cytoplasmic inheritance redux, emergence, self organization and developmental science, and the evolution of intelligent developmental systems.

Each chapter provides in-depth discussions, and this volume serves as an invaluable resource for developmental or educational psychology researchers, scholars, and students.

Chapters that highlight some of the most recent research in the area. A wide array of topics are discussed in detail

What does it mean to find a gene or set of genes that are associated with ADHD, schizophrenia, or autism? Could we eradicate such diseases from our species through gene therapy? Is it possible to eradicate from our genome the genetic material that predisposes us to be too aggressive, too shy, less intelligent, or not active enough? Who has the political power and/or moral authority to make these decisions? The premise of Nature and Nurture is that the complexity of the transactions between nature and nurture--between genes and the environment from the cellular to the cultural level--make these questions incredibly complex and in need of careful attention by educators, scientists, the public, and policymakers. A product of the conference held at Brown University in 2001, this book suggests that genes and environments work together interactively in a complex and closely intertwined fashion. The contributors to this book--biologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and economists--present knowledge that enables research and application to transcend the traditional question of whatever variance or significance is attributed to genetics versus environment in the development of a particular behavioral trait. This book presents a variety of views on the current status of knowledge about the ways in which dynamic, developmental, mutually interactive systems in the genetic and environmental domains operate. The chapters represent contributions from different perspectives.

In the World Library of Psychologists series, international experts present career-long collections of what they judge to be their most interesting publications-extracts from books, key articles, research findings, and practical and theoretical contributions. Professor Richard M. Lerner has been prominent in the application of developmental science across the life span for half a century, investigating dynamic, relational development systems, and their potential impact on positive youth development (PYD) and social justice. In this collection, Professor Lerner presents the development of his theory of, and research about, relations between life-span human development and contextual or ecological change, exploring the mutually influential relations between humans and their peer, family, school, and community contexts. Including a specially written introduction, in which Professor Lerner reflects on the importance of mentorship and contextualises both the field and the evolution of his wide-ranging career, this collection will be a valuable resource for students and researchers of developmental psychology.

Richard M. Lerner's work presents a powerful and emotive treatise on the crisis facing America's youth. Drawing on a wide range of statistical evidence to support his arguments, he graphically demonstrates the risks of drug and alcohol abuse, unsafe sexual practices, teenage pregnancy, school drop out and academic underachievement, delinquency, crime, and violence facing American youth at historically unprecedented levels. . . . This is an authoritative, well-researched piece of work that takes a refreshing and positive look to the future of action research in collaboration with empowered communities to provide for needs and treasure the community resources that have in the past been paid scant attention. America's Youth in Crisis is both forward thinking and imaginative and will challenge researchers, policymakers, and practitioners faced with the crisis of American youth. --Heather Leitch in Journal of Adolescence "Lerner's work presents a powerful and emotive treatise on the crisis facing America's youth. Drawing on a wide range of statistical evidence to support his arguments he graphically demonstrates the risks of drug and alcohol abuse, unsafe sexual practices, teenage pregnancy, school drop-out and academic under-achievement, deliquency, crime and violence facing American youth at historically unprecedented levels. Lerner calls for a comprehensive and integrated national policy on youth to address these risk factors which he sees as threatening the very fabric of American society. This is an authoritative, well-researched piece of work which takes a refreshing and positive look to the future of action research in collaboration with empowered communities to provide the needs, and treasure the community resources which have in the past been paid scant attention. It is both forward-thinking and imaginative and will challenge researchers, policy-makers and practitioners faced with crisis of American youth." --Heather Leitch in Journal of Adolescence Our nation's youth are at risk for drug and alcohol abuse, unsafe sexual practices, teen pregnancy, academic underachievement, delinquency, and crime and violence. What can be done to prevent these problems from occurring? Outlining a vigorous "call to arms," this volume describes the steps needed to overcome these potential problems by enhancing academic researchers' responsiveness to the needs of the community and encouraging them to apply the results of research findings to community outreach. After reviewing the problems that beset today's youth, Lerner offers a model, developmental contextualism, that provides a theoretical framework for viewing child and adolescent development in relation to specific features of environmental "context" such as family, neighborhood, society, culture, etc. This model is used to describe the problems and the potentials that are associated with the bidirectional relationships between youth and their contexts. Lerner asserts that by altering the context in which youth live, researchers can test the effectiveness of policies and/or programs in creating desired changes in children's and adolescents' behavior and development. Researchers and practitioners interested in child and adolescent development, family studies, child and family policy, and program evaluation will find this thought-provoking book useful in their studies and programs. "Brief and often abstract, the book first describes the crises facing America's children and adolescents... The ideas proposed by Lerner could transform programs for America's youth and revitalize applied research." --Choice "One of the nation's most eminent developmental psychologists has applied his mastery of adolescent research and theory to a new challenge. In America's Youth in Crisis he focuses his attention on solutions, showing how research and outreach come together in successful prevention programs." --Graham B. Spanier, Chancellor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Originally published in 1983, the purpose of this book was to discuss the relations between philosophy and developmental psychology, as those relations existed over the course of the history of the discipline and as they existed at that time. Although not all portions of developmental psychology are surveyed, major proponents of several key areas are represented (e.g. organismic developmental theory, stage theory, life-span-developmental psychology, and the ecological approach to development). In addition, discussion of many currently prominent issues are included (e.g. constancy and change in human development, the use of multivariate models and methods, the role of the context in individual development, and the use of developmental theory in public policy and political arenas). The diversity of approaches and of interests present in the book are representative of the breadth of theoretical and empirical interests found in developmental psychology at the time.

The articles in this volume discuss the behavioral and social risks that adolescents encounter. In addition, the papers describe both internalizing problems (e.g., depression) and externalizing problems (e.g., substance use and abuse, delinquency, and problems relating to sexual behavior) that are relatively common among adolescents. All of the papers in this volume are grounded in the theoretical belief that adolescent behavior, including risk-taking and problem behavior, as well as positive and healthy behavior, results from complex interactions occurring between the adolescent and the multiple levels of the adolescent's context. Moreover, many of the papers in the current volume emphasize the importance of examining the interactions between the adolescent and his/her context longitudinally since changes in these relations take place as adolescence progresses.

An important underlying theme throughout this volume is diversity. As many of the articles stress, there is wide variation in adolescent behaviors, including problem behaviors, in regard to gender, race, ethnicity, and religiosity. This variation is evident in problem behaviors ranging from internalizing behaviors such as depression, with adolescent girls being much more likely to experience depression than boys; to externalizing behaviors such as precocious sexual activity and pregnancy, with African-Americans adolescents being at a significantly greater risk for experiencing these problems in comparison to adolescents from other racial groups.

The articles in this volume also illustrate the point that during adolescence, problem behaviors tend to co-occur. For example, adolescent substance abusers tend to exhibitadditional problem behaviors such as early sexual activity, delinquency, and depression. Therefore, consistent with recent empirical work, these articles advocate the study of the "whole" adolescent; in contrast to the examination of isolated behaviors.

The underlying ideas presented in this volume have important implications for prevention and intervention. Taken together, they suggest that prevention and intervention programs targeting adolescent problem behaviors should be comprehensive. Such programs need to address the entire system -- the interaction of the "whole" adolescent with his/her context. In addition, these articles suggest that prevention and intervention programs need to encompass variations in behaviors across adolescents, contexts, and time.

This volume focuses on concepts central to the understanding of the key features of individuality which undergo significant transformations throughout the adolescent period: Personality, self, and ego. While rooted in distinct theoretical traditions, these three concepts, in combination, capture the core aspects of the formation of the individual's unique sense of self or identity, a psychosocial development fundamentally associated with adolescence. Consistent with the developmental-systems models of person-context relations at the forefront of current human development theory and research, the articles within this volume focus on the dynamic, reciprocal relations between youth and key socializing agents within their ecologies. Nevertheless, the articles represented in this volume illustrate that when attempting to understand the development of personality- and self-systems, scholars differ in the extent to which they place primary emphasis on the individual, on the context, or on the relationship between the two.

For instance, while Bandura (1989) stresses the importance of the individual's sense of self-efficacy in creating beliefs about personal agency, Harter, Stocker and Robinson (1996) examine the link between approval from others (e.g., peers and key adults) and perceived self-worth, and Kenny and colleagues (1993) study the impact of emotional attachment to parents on adolescents' self concepts and depressive symptomatology. Variations in research designs are also represented within this volume. Several articles employ longitudinal designs to study continuities and discontinuities in personality, self, and ego development. Damon and Hart (1982) focus on the transitions fromchildhood into adolescence in their examination of self-understanding from infancy through adolescence. Other articles emphasize the changes in personality and self that accompany the transition from adolescence into adulthood: Tubman, Lerner, Lerner, and von Eye (1992) examine stability and change in temperament, or behavioral style, while Block & Robins focus on consistencies and variations in self-esteem, and Waterman (1982) reviews evidence on identity development. Such longitudinal investigations give primacy to age-related changes in people. In addition, articles by Baltes and Nesselroade (1972) and Alsaker and Olweus (1992) employ cohort-longitudinal designs which enable one disentangle changes in self-understanding and personality that are associated with historical time, age, and birth cohort. The remaining articles focus on diversity in individual experiences across unique contextual conditions. Topics covered include factors related to these self systems associated with variation in ethnic and racial background (Lerner and colleagues, 1980; Luster & McAdoo, 1995; Spencer & Markstrom-Adams, 1990), gender (Galambos, Almeida, & Peterson, 1980), sexual orientation (Savin-Williams, 1995), and family structure (Hauser et al., 1991; Powers, Welsh, & Wright, 1994).

Despite the variation in emphasis on changes in the individual, the context, or person context changes over time, the articles in this volume underscore the point that multiple levels of the complex and dynamic person-context system must be examined. Only through such investigations can we further our understanding of the key aspects of individual differences in personality, self and ego development. Such understandingis critical for advancing our knowledge of when and at what levels we should intervene to promote a commitment to successful roles in adolescence and young adulthood.

?This volume presents the reader with a stimulating rich tapestry of essays exploring the nature of action and intentionality, and discussing their role in human development. As the contributions make clear, action is an integrative concept that forms the bridge between our psychological, biological, and sociocultural worlds. Action is also integrative in the sense of entailing motivational, emotional, and cognitive systems, and this integration too is well represented in the chapters. Action is defined, and distinguished from behavior, according to its intentional quality. Thus, a constantly recurring theme in the volume involves the dialectic of action-intentionality, and specifically the questions of how and when these concepts are to be distinguished. For action theorists, action?as distinguished from behavior?constitutes the fundamental mechanism of human development. This commitment is detailed in several essays that explore the life-span implications of action. This timely volume will be must reading for all who want to learn about, or stay current with, contemporary action theoretical approaches to human development.? ? Willis F. Overton, Temple University The present volume advances the view that we cannot go far in understanding development over the life span without paying heed to self-reflective processes. In a reciprocal way, self-reflection links developmental change in the ways in which the person constructs his or her own development over the life span. Development, action, and intentionality exist, then, in an intimate relationship: As development forms the social and historical settings within which intentional activity is embedded, thus become indispensable categories for developmental theory and research. Due to their potential to integrate culture, history, and personality, action-theoretical concepts have made strong inroads in many areas of social and behavioral research. Within the field of developmental psychology, researchers have come to recognize that developmental patterns, and their variation across historical and social contexts, cannot easily be reduced to invariant laws. Instead, they reflect the agency of both the culture and the person. Issues of intentional self-development gain particular importance within the developmental settings of modernity. Under conditions of cultural acceleration, globalization, and pluralization of life forms, normative ?scripts? and timetables of development have become blurred, and people are increasingly forced to take a planful, self-monitoring, and optimizing stance toward their own behavior and development. As will become evident throughout this ground-breaking book, an action perspective on development covers a broad spectrum of theoretical approaches. Concepts such as ?personal goals,? ?personal projects,? ?life themes,? ?meaning,? ?life planning,? ?compensation,? or ?intentional self-development? have become the nuclei of innovative research programs. The chapters collected in this volume, by scholars on the forefront of action theory and research, provide an indication of the promise that these notions hold for life-span developmental psychology, motivation research, and research on aging.