'… thoughtful and valuable … It is strongly recommended for researchers, clinicians and students, and for policy makers whose concern is to improve the circumstances of childhood for the benefit of the child's future life as well as for the benefit of society.' Psychological Medicine

• Figures and tables; Contributors; Foreword Klaus Jacobs; Acknowledgments; Part I. Introduction and Overview: 1. Introduction P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale, Kathleen Kiernan and Ruth J. Friedman; 2. Life-course development: the interplay of social-selection and social causations within and across generations Avshalom Caspi; Part II. Human Capital: 3. An overview of economic and social opportunities and disadvantage in European households Brian Nolan and Bertrand Maitre; 4. Parental, childhood, and early adult legacies in the emergence of adult social exclusion: evidence on what matters from a British cohort John Hobcraft; 5. Individual and parent based intervention strategies for promoting human capital and positive behavior Greg J. Duncan and Katherine Magnuson; Part III. Partnership Behavior: 6. Cohabitation and divorce across nations and generations Kathleen Kiernan; 7. The intergenerational transmission of couple instability E. Mavis Hetherington and Anne Mitchell Elmore; 8. Strengthening partnerships and families Kurt Hahlweg; Part IV. Psychological Health and Development: 9. Intergenerational continuities and discontinuities in psychological problems Michael Rutter; 10. Environmental influences on intellectual abilities in childhood: findings from a longitudinal adoption study Michel Duyme, Louise Arsenault, Annick-Camille Dumaret; 11. Intervention and policy as change agents for young children Jeanne Brooks-Gunn; Part V. Conclusion: 12. Human development and the potential for change from the perspective of multiple disciplines: what have we learned? P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale and Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal; Index.