Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

Koocher and Keith-Spiegel introduce the reader to a variety of ethical and legal dilemmas that may arise for mental-health professionals working with children, adolescents, and their families. They offer advice on how to analyze problematic situations and arrive at appropriate decisions. A unique feature of the book is the inclusion of more than 130 vignettes drawn from court decisions and actual clinical incidents. Covering such topics as counseling in schools, psychotherapy in private practice, research in university laboratories, and testifying in court, the authors address a broad spectrum of concerns for professionals who attend to the mental health needs of children. Gerald P. Koocher is chief psychologist at Boston's Children's Hospital and an associate professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School. He is editor of the journal Ethics and Behavior and coauthor, with John E. O'Malley, of The Damocles Syndrome: Psycho-social Consequences of Surviving Childhood Cancer .

For more than two decades, the concept of student engagement has grown from simple attention in class to a construct comprised of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components that embody and further develop motivation for learning. Similarly, the goals of student engagement have evolved from dropout prevention to improved outcomes for lifelong learning. This robust expansion has led to numerous lines of research across disciplines and are brought together clearly and comprehensively in the Handbook of Research on Student Engagement. The Handbook guides readers through the field’s rich history, sorts out its component constructs, and identifies knowledge gaps to be filled by future research. Grounding data in real-world learning situations, contributors analyze indicators and facilitators of student engagement, link engagement to motivation, and gauge the impact of family, peers, and teachers on engagement in elementary and secondary grades. Findings on the effectiveness of classroom interventions are discussed in detail. And because assessing engagement is still a relatively new endeavor, chapters on measurement methods and issues round out this important resource. Topical areas addressed in the Handbook include: Engagement across developmental stages. Self-efficacy in the engaged learner. Parental and social influences on engagement and achievement motivation. The engaging nature of teaching for competency development. The relationship between engagement and high-risk behavior in adolescents. Comparing methods for measuring student engagement. An essential guide to the expanding knowledge base, the Handbook of Research on Student Engagement serves as a valuable resource for researchers, scientist-practitioners, and graduate students in such varied fields as clinical child and school psychology, educational psychology, public health, teaching and teacher education, social work, and educational policy.

"This is a must-have for any researcher in vocational psychology or career counseling, or anyone who wishes to understand the empirical underpinnings of the practice of career counseling." -Mark Pope, EdD College of Education, University of Missouri - St. Louis past president of the American Counseling Association Today's career development professional must choose from a wide array of theories and practices in order to provide services for a diverse range of clients. Career Development and Counseling: Putting Theory and Research to Work focuses on scientifically based career theories and practices, including those derived from research in other disciplines. Driven by the latest empirical and practical evidence, this text offers the most in-depth, far-reaching, and comprehensive career development and counseling resource available. Career Development and Counseling includes coverage of: Major theories of career development, choice, and adjustment Informative research on occupational aspirations, job search success, job satisfaction, work performance, career development with people of color, and women's career development Assessment of interests, needs and values, ability, and other important constructs Occupational classification and sources of occupational information Counseling for school-aged youth, diverse populations, choice-making, choice implementation, work adjustment, and retirement Special needs and applications including those for at-risk, intellectually talented, and work-bound youth; people with disabilities; and individuals dealing with job loss, reentry, and career transitions Edited by two of the leading figures in career development, and featuring contributions by many of the most well-regarded specialists in the field, Career Development and Counseling: Putting Theory and Research to Work is the one book that every career counselor, vocational psychologist, and serious student of career development must have.

Nutrition in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease, Fourth Edition, is a compilation of current knowledge in clinical nutrition and an overview of the rationale and science base of its application to practice in the prevention and treatment of disease. In its fourth edition, this text continues the tradition of incorporating new discoveries and methods related to this important area of research Generating and analyzing data that summarize dietary intake and its association with disease are valuable tasks in treating disease and developing disease prevention strategies. Well-founded medical nutrition therapies can minimize disease development and related complications. Providing scientifically sound, creative, and effective nutrition interventions is both challenging and rewarding. Two new chapters on metabolomics and translational research, which have come to be used in nutrition research in recent years. The new areas of study are discussed with the perspective that the application of the scientific method is by definition an evolutionary process. A new chapter on Genetics and Diabetes which reviews the latest research on causal genetic variants and biological mechanisms responsible for the disease, and explores potential interactions with environmental factors such as diet and lifestyle. Includes all major "omics" – the exposome, metabolomics, genomics, and the gut microbiome. Expands the microbiota portions to reflect complexity of diet on gut microbial ecology, metabolism and health

Cooperation and Helping Behavior: Theories and Research deals with theory and research with respect to positive forms of social behavior, with emphasis on cooperation and helping behavior. Topics covered include social values and rules of fairness; cognitive processes underlying cooperation; the effects of intergroup competition and cooperation on intragroup and intergroup relationships; and altruism and the problem of collective action. Comprised of 18 chapters, this book begins with an overview of theories and research on cooperation and helping behavior, followed by a discussion on the problem of interdependence within the context of interpersonal relations. Subsequent chapters deal with cognitive processes affecting cooperation; motivational and cognitive antecedents of cooperation; the effects of intergroup competition and cooperation on intragroup and intergroup relationships; and opportunities for gaining satisfactory solutions to conflict through negotiation. Social trap analogs of social dilemmas such as the energy crisis and overpopulation are also examined, together with altruism and the problem of collective action; justice-motive theory; arousal and cost-reward theory of bystander intervention; and the psychological aspects of receiving help. The final chapter considers types of psychological mechanisms underlying prosocial behavior and its development. This monograph will be of value to students and researchers in the field of psychology.