This important collection examines peer rejections among children.

Addressing the widespread and painful problem of chronic peer rejection, this volume combines up-to-date research and practical strategies for school- and clinic-based intervention. An innovative developmental framework is presented for understanding why certain children face rejection, the peer group dynamics involved, and implications for social-emotional development and mental health. Strategies for assessing rejected children are discussed in detail, with attention to individual social competence variables as well as transactional influences. Clear guidelines are delineated for planning and implementing effective social competence coaching programs, as well as multicomponent interventions and school-based strategies. Providing invaluable recommendations for practice that are solidly grounded in the empirical literature, the book is illustrated throughout with revealing case studies and interviews.

Highlighting the interplay between basic research and intervention, this volume focuses on common stressful life experiences that present significant challenges to children's healthy development. Fifteen stressors are discussed with regard to both short-and long-term effects. The authors identify factors that explain variability in children's adjustment to these stressors and evaluate preventive interventions designed to facilitate coping. Notable chapters include a discussion of the many uncontrollable stressors to which inner-city youth are exposed and a thorough treatment of children's adaptation to divorce. Each chapter follows a common outline, allowing comparison among stressors.

Interpersonal rejection ranks among the most potent and distressing events that people experience. Romantic rejection, ostracism, stigmatization, job termination, and other kinds of rejects have the power to compromise the quality of people's lives. As a result, people are highly motivated to avoid social rejection, and indeed, much of human behavior appears to be designed to avoid such experiences. Yet, despite the widespread effects of real, anticipated and even imagined rejections, psychologists have devoted only passing attention to the topic, and the research on rejection has been scattered throughout a number of psychological subspecialtie including social, clinical, developmental, and personality psychology. This volume brigns together contributors whose work is on the cutting edge of rejection research, providing a readable overview of recent advances in the field. In doing so, it not only provides a look at the current state of the area, but also helps to establish the topic of rejection as an identifiable area for future research.

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.

The period of adolescence involves growth, adaptation, and dramatic reorganization in almost every aspect of social and psychological development. The Encyclopedia of Adolescence, Three Volume Set offers an exhaustive and comprehensive review of current theory and research findings pertaining to this critical decade of life. Leading scientists offer accessible and easily readable reviews of biological, social, educational, occupational, and cultural factors that shape adolescent development. Issues in normative development, individual differences, and psychopathology/maladjustment are reviewed. Over 130 chapters are included, each covering a specific aspect or issue of adolescence. The chapters trace differences in the course of adolescence in different nations and among youth with different backgrounds.The encyclopedia brings together cross-disciplinary contributors, including academic researchers, biologists, psychiatrists, sociologists, anthropologists and public policy experts, and will include authors from around the world. Each article features an in-depth analysis of current information on the topic, along with a glossary, suggested readings for further information, and cross-references to related encyclopedia articles. The volumes offer an unprecedented resource for all audiences, providing a more comprehensive understanding of general topics compared to other reference works on the subject.Available both in print and online via SciVerse Science Direct. Winner of the 2011 PROSE Award for Multivolume Reference in Humanities & Social Science from the Association of American Publishers; and named a 2012 Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association's Choice publication Brings together cross-disciplinary contributors, including developmental psychologists, educational psychologists, clinical psychologists, biologists, psychiatrists, sociologists, anthropologists and public policy experts Published both in print and via Elsevier's ScienceDirectTM online platform

This reference work breaks new ground as an electronic resource. Utterly comprehensive, it serves as a repository of knowledge in the field as well as a frequently updated conduit of new material long before it finds its way into standard textbooks.