Klaus Hurrelmann is Senior Professor of Public Health and Education at Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. He was the founding dean of the first school of public health in Germany and established the Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence at Bielefeld University. Matthias Richter is Professor and Head of the Institute of Medical Sociology at the Martin-Luther-University, Halle-Wittenberg. For more than 15 years, he has garnered an active interest in the social determinants of health. His research and professional interests include child and adolescent research, with particular focus on explaining health inequalities.

• IntroductionPart A The Determinants of Health 1. Influential factors of health2. The influence of social circumstances 2.1 The importance of the family 2.2 The impact of education, work and career3. The influence of gender and life course 3.1 Health impairments in boys and girls 3.2 Health impairments at later stages of the life course Part B The Elements of Health4. Social theories of health 4.1 The impact of unequal social and economic resources 4.2 Morbid social and organisational structures5. Public health theories 5.1 Identification of the causes for the spread of diseases 5.2 Identification of optimal healthcare structures6. Learning theories of health 6.1 The individual as active information processor 6.2 The concept of self-efficacy7. Coping theories of health 7.1 The relationship between personality traits and health 7.2 The processing of demands and burdensPart C The Genesis of Health8. Health as salutogenesis 8.1 The concept of the sense of coherence 8.2 The concept of the health disease continuum9. The model of productive processing of reality 9.1 The relationship between socialisation and health 9.2 Coping with developmental tasks10. The production and safeguarding of health 11.1 Health promotion and disease prevention 11.2 Prevention and health promotion in the life course 11.3 Examples of promotion strategies11. Modules of health theory

Klaus Hurrelmann is Senior Professor of Public Health and Education at Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. He was the founding dean of the first school of public health in Germany and established the Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Prevention and Intervention in Childhood and Adolescence at Bielefeld University. Matthias Richter is Professor and Head of the Institute of Medical Sociology at the Martin-Luther-University, Halle-Wittenberg. For more than 15 years, he has garnered an active interest in the social determinants of health. His research and professional interests include child and adolescent research, with particular focus on explaining health inequalities.

• IntroductionPart A The Determinants of Health 1. Influential factors of health2. The influence of social circumstances 2.1 The importance of the family 2.2 The impact of education, work and career3. The influence of gender and life course 3.1 Health impairments in boys and girls 3.2 Health impairments at later stages of the life course Part B The Elements of Health4. Social theories of health 4.1 The impact of unequal social and economic resources 4.2 Morbid social and organisational structures5. Public health theories 5.1 Identification of the causes for the spread of diseases 5.2 Identification of optimal healthcare structures6. Learning theories of health 6.1 The individual as active information processor 6.2 The concept of self-efficacy7. Coping theories of health 7.1 The relationship between personality traits and health 7.2 The processing of demands and burdensPart C The Genesis of Health8. Health as salutogenesis 8.1 The concept of the sense of coherence 8.2 The concept of the health disease continuum9. The model of productive processing of reality 9.1 The relationship between socialisation and health 9.2 Coping with developmental tasks10. The production and safeguarding of health 11.1 Health promotion and disease prevention 11.2 Prevention and health promotion in the life course 11.3 Examples of promotion strategies11. Modules of health theory