John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Mental Health and Development, Studies on Successful Adolescent Development – serie

How physically and psychologically healthy are Americans at midlife? And why do some experience greater well-being than others? The MacArthur Foundation addressed these questions head-on by funding a landmark study known as "Midlife in the U.S." (MIDUS). "How Healthy Are We?" presents the key findings from the survey in three sections: physical health, quality of life and psychological well-being, and the contexts of midlife. This wide-ranging study measures not only health - the absence of illness - but also reports on the presence of wellness in middle-aged Americans. Researchers, policymakers, and others concerned with the quality of midlife will welcome its insights.

In Children of the Land, Glen H. Elder Jr. and Rand D. Conger ask whether traditional observations about farm families - strong intergenerational ties, productive roles for youth in work and social leadership, dedicated parents, and a network of positive engagement in church, school, and community life-apply to three hundred Iowa children who grew up with some tie to the land during the agricultural crisis of the 1980s, a time of widespread farm bankruptcies and factory closings. The answer, they show, is a resounding yes. A moving testament to the distinctly positive lifestyle of rural Midwestern families with connections to the land, this uplifting book also suggests important routes to success for youth in other high risk settings.

Integrating literatures from all areas of psychology, this text includes historical accounts, analysis of experiments, and treatment of topics from free-association and hypnosis to truth sera, to provide a comprehensive scientific account of memory increasing over time. This volume highlights both classic and modern work on hypermnesia, or memory improvement. Included are Erdelyi's own contributions, ranging from his early attempts to use free-association to produce hypermnesia to his most recent research with hypnosis, subliminal stimuli, forced-recall techniques, and very long-delayed recall probes.

Integrating literature from all areas of psychology, this book includes historical accounts, analysis of experiments and treatment topics, providing a comprehensive scientific account of memory and how it can increase over time. The author includes his own contributions to the field, ranging from his early attempts to use free-association to produce hyperamnesia to his most recent research with hypnosis, subliminal stimuli, forced-recall techniques and very long-delayed recall probes.

One of the myths about families in inner-city neighbourhoods is that they are characterized by poor parenting. The sociologist Frank Furstenberg and his colleagues explode this and other misconceptions about success, parenting, and socioeconomic advantage in this text. The book launches a series which focuses on how and why youth are able to overcome - rather than succumb to - social disadvantages. Based on more than 500 interviews and qualitative case studies of families in inner-city Philadelphia, the text reveals how parents managed different levels of resources and dangers in low-income neighbourhoods and how this management, rather than community involvement, contributed to the success of their children. The authors detail the factors that shape the trajectories of adolescents and in so doing provide information about programmes and services that should be useful to policy makers, sociologists, educators, and indeed anyone concerned with the fate of the urban poor.

One of the myths about families in inner-city neighbourhoods is that they are characterized by poor parenting. The sociologist Frank Furstenberg and his colleagues explode this and other misconceptions about success, parenting, and socioeconomic advantage in this text. The book launches a series which focuses on how and why youth are able to overcome - rather than succumb to - social disadvantages. Based on more than 500 interviews and qualitative case studies of families in inner-city Philadelphia, the text reveals how parents managed different levels of resources and dangers in low-income neighbourhoods and how this management, rather than community involvement, contributed to the success of their children. The authors detail the factors that shape the trajectories of adolescents and in so doing provide information about programmes and services that should be useful to policy makers, sociologists, educators, and indeed anyone concerned with the fate of the urban poor.

This collection of original articles by leading specialists in child development brings together work from diverse backgrounds and disciplines to establish, for the first time, the importance of the preschool period (eighteen months to four years)for parent-child attachment relationships. Balancing theoretical, research-oriented, and clinical papers, Attachment in the Preschool Years provides valuable data and approaches for those working in a wide range of fields, including developmental psychology and psychopathology, child psychiatry, family therapy, pediatrics, nursing, and early childhood education. "There is a wealth of information and thought in this book; it does not have a weak or uninteresting chapter, starting with the Preface by Emde, and as a whole, it forms a sort of seminar."--John E. Bates, Contemporary Psychology

It is often said that a teen "old enough to do the crime is old enough to do the time", but are teens really mature and capable enough to participate fully and fairly in adult criminal court? In this book - the fruit of the MacArthur Foundation Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice - a wide range of leaders in developmental psychology and law combine their expertise to investigate the current limitations on our youth policy. The first part of the book establishes a developmental perspective on juvenile justice; the second and third parts then apply this perspective to issues of adolescents' capacities as trial defendants and to questions of legal culpability. Underlying the entire work is the assumption that an enlightened juvenile justice system cannot ignore the developmental psychological realities of adolescence. Not only a state-of-the-art assessment of the conceptual and empirical issues in the forensic assessment of youth, "Youth on Trial" is also a call to reintroduce sound, humane public policy into our justice system.

How do children develop an understanding of future events? In this review of two decades of empirical and theoretical work, leading researchers in developmental psychology and neuroscience explore what is known about the development of future-oriented processes. Following Marshall Haith's seminal studies on early infant anticipation, this collection begins with a survey of current knowledge about the early development of expectations. Addressing both the state of neural research in this field and the role of language and social context in the development of future orientation, the authors discuss the nature of planning in action, future orientation in humans and in non-human primates, and the development of intermediate and long-term expectations with regard to cognitive skills and scientific activity. Combining developmental and cognitive perspectives, this volume should interest professionals in developmental psychology, child development and neuropsychology.

Studies of human development have taken an ethnographic turn in the 1990s. In this volume, anthropologists, psychologists and sociologists discuss how qualitative methodologies have strengthened the understanding of cognitive, emotional and behavioural development, and of the difficulties of growing up in contemporary society. Part One, informed by a post-positivist philosophy of science, argues for the validity of ethnographic knowledge. Part Two examines a range of qualitative methods, from participant observation to the hermeneutic elaboration of texts. In Part Three, ethnographic methods are applied to issues of human development across the life span and to social problems including poverty, racial and ethnic marginality, and crime. Restoring ethnographic methods to a central place in social inquiry, the 22 essays in this text should interest everyone concerned with the epistemological problems of context, meaning and subjectivity in the behavioural sciences.

Studies of human development have taken an ethnographic turn in the 1990s. In this volume, anthropologists, psychologists and sociologists discuss how qualitative methodologies have strengthened the understanding of cognitive, emotional and behavioural development, and of the difficulties of growing up in contemporary society. Part One, informed by a post-positivist philosophy of science, argues for the validity of ethnographic knowledge. Part Two examines a range of qualitative methods, from participant observation to the hermeneutic elaboration of texts. In Part Three, ethnographic methods are applied to issues of human development across the life span and to social problems including poverty, racial and ethnic marginality, and crime. Restoring ethnographic methods to a central place in social inquiry, the 22 essays in this text should interest everyone concerned with the epistemological problems of context, meaning and subjectivity in the behavioural sciences.

"The Emergence of Morality in Young Children is one of very few scholarly books concerning the development of moral tendencies in the early years. In its pages, a diverse group of eminent social and behavioral scientists address this fascinating topic and struggle with issues of inquiry that have persistently plagued this field."—Nancy Eisenberg, Harvard Educational Review"This is a welcome and immensely provocative book. For those of us who favor ethical theorizing done in close proximity to psychology and anthropology, it provides new and illuminating theory and research relevant to perennial debates about the origins of moral sense, its psychological organization, and the objectivity and unity of the moral."—Owen Flanagan, EthicsThe contributors are Augusto Blasi, Lawrence Blum, Judy Dunn, M. Ann Easterbrooks, Carolyn Pope Edwards, Robert Emde, Carol Gilligan, Charles C. Helwig, William F. Johnson, Jerome Kagan, Melanie Killen, Sharon Lamb, Manamohan Mahapatra, Joan G. Miller, Edward Mueller, Richard A. Shweder, Catherine Snow, Elliot Turiel, and Grant Wiggins.

A recent study of productivity in the workplace revealed that workers spend on average eight percent of their workday doing nothing. This statistic takes on greater significance when we find that health problems impact employee productivity loss by an even greater percentage. In light of this discovery, a group of leading experts from the emerging field of health and productivity research argues that the expansion of health care benefits represents a substantial investment opportunity for employers. "Health and Work Productivity" presents state-of-the-art health and productivity research that suggests interventions aimed at prevention, early detection, and best-practice treatment of workers along with an informed allocation strategy can produce significant cost-benefits for employers. Contributors cover all the major aspects of this new area of research: approaches to studying the effects of health on productivity, ways for employers to estimate the costs of productivity loss, concrete suggestions for future research developments in the area, and the implications of this research for public policy.

In courts across the country, judges depend on mental health experts to determine whether mentally disordered people are dangerous. But experts' ability to predict violence is severely limited, and they are wrong as often as they are right. This study reviews two decades of research on mental disorder and offers new empirical and theoretical work that will pave the way for more accurate predictions of violent behavior."Essential for all those who are interested in the study of risk assessment of violence. It is particularly important for the researcher in this area. . . . For the clinician who must make violence assessments it is important reading as well."—Stewart Levine, Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law

In the decade after high school, young people continue to rely on their families in many ways - sometimes for financial support, sometimes for help with childcare, and sometimes for continued shelter. But what about those young people who confront special difficulties during this period, many of whom can't count on help from their families? "On Your Own Without a Net" documents the special challenges facing seven vulnerable populations during the transition to adulthood: former foster-care youth, youth formerly involved in the juvenile justice system, youth in the criminal justice system, runaway and homeless youth, former special-education students, young people in the mental health system, and youth with physical disabilities. During adolescence, government programs have been a major part of their lives, yet eligibility for most programs typically ends between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one. This volume shows the unfortunate repercussions of this termination of support and points out the issues that must be addressed to improve these young people's chances of becoming successful adults.

When do youths begin to have sex? What is the relationship between sexuality and marriage? How does sexual behaviour change in later years? With the rise of the AIDS epidemic and the proliferation of sex in movies, TV and magazines, how have sexual attitudes changed in America since the 1960s? Alice S. Rossi brings together 14 essays on sexual behaviour, from adolescence to old age, and covering such groups as singles, married couples, homosexuals and African-American men and women. This volume also looks at the effects of chronic disease and medication on sexual functioning, recent developments in psychotherapy for sexual problems, and sexual abuse of children, incest and rape.

When do youths begin to have sex? What is the relationship between sexuality and marriage? How does sexual behaviour change in later years? With the rise of the AIDS epidemic and the proliferation of sex in movies, TV and magazines, how have sexual attitudes changed in America since the 1960s? Alice S. Rossi brings together 14 essays on sexual behaviour, from adolescence to old age, and covering such groups as singles, married couples, homosexuals and African-American men and women. This volume also looks at the effects of chronic disease and medication on sexual functioning, recent developments in psychotherapy for sexual problems, and sexual abuse of children, incest and rape.

The symptoms of middle age are often defined in terms of lower back pain, mortgages, and an aversion to loud late-night activities. This construction of "midlife", most often rendered in chronological, biological and medical terms, has become an accepted reality to European Americans, and has spread to non-Western capitals such as Tokyo and New Delhi. This study explores the significance of this pervasive cultural representation compared to other cultures where "middle age" does not exist. It examines topics ranging from the Western ideology of "midlife decline", to cultural representations of mature adulthood which ignore middle age. It also looks at the myths surrounding the life span from 30 to 70.

The symptoms of middle age are often defined in terms of lower back pain, mortgages, and an aversion to loud late-night activities. This construction of "midlife", most often rendered in chronological, biological and medical terms, has become an accepted reality to European Americans, and has spread to non-Western capitals such as Tokyo and New Delhi. This study explores the significance of this pervasive cultural representation compared to other cultures where "middle age" does not exist. It examines topics ranging from the Western ideology of "midlife decline", to cultural representations of mature adulthood which ignore middle age. It also looks at the myths surrounding the life span from 30 to 70.