The Nature-Nurture Debate and Public Policy

The contentious nature-nurture debate in developmental psychology is poised to reach a rapprochement with contemporary concepts of gene-environment interaction, transaction, and fit. Discoveries over the past decade have revealed how neither genes nor the environment offers a sufficient window into human development. Rather, the most important discoveries have come from unearthing the manner in which the environment alters gene expression (and how genes impose limits on environmental effects), how biology and the environment influence each other across time, and how maximizing gene-environment fit leads to optimal outcomes for children. The manner in which these factors operate in tandem should direct future scholarship, practice, and public policy

Where and How to Draw the Line Between Reasonable Corporal Punishment and Abuse

This article from law and child psychology provides a thorough description of relevant state laws, judicial decisions, and childprotective-services practices and argues that relevant regulation ought to be revised to the extent necessary to reflect an appropriate balance between parental-autonomy rights and the social-science evidence on the effects of corporal punishment on children’s short- and long-term developmental wellbeing

Puzzling It Out: The Current State of Scientific Knowledge on Pre-Kindergarten Effects - A Consensus Statement

Scientific research has established that if all children are to achieve their developmental potential, it is important to lay the foundation during the earliest years for lifelong health, learning, and positive behavior. A central question is how well our public pre-kindergarten (pre-K) programs are doing to build this foundation.Forty-two states and the District of Columbia, through 57 pre-K programs, have introduced substantial innovations in their early education systems by developing the infrastructure, program sites, and workforce required to accommodate pre-K education. These programs now serve nearly 30 percent of the nation's 4-year-olds and 5 percent of 3-year-olds

Coral of Opportunity Survivorship and the Use of Coral Nurseries in Coral Reef Restoration

Coral reef damage is unfortunately becoming a common occurrence off southeast Florida, U.S.A. Reattachment of the dislodged scleractinian corals usually initiates damage site restoration. Because mortality of dislodged colonies is typically high and natural recovery in southeast Florida is typically slow, transplantation of additional scleractinian corals into a damaged area has been used to accelerate reef recovery. Donor colonies available for transplantation have been grown in situ, grown in laboratories, and taken from nondamaged reef areas. An alternative source of donor colonies for transplantation into damaged sites is “corals of opportunity,” which we define as scleractinian corals that have been detached from the reef through natural processes or unknown events. This paper describes a project, initiated in 2001 in Broward County, Florida, that was developed to collect these dislodged colonies and transplant them to a coral nursery. Coral nurseries are interim locations that function as storage sites for corals of opportunity where they can be cached, stabilized, and allowed to grow, until needed as donor colonies for future restoration activities. This project is a partnership between a local university, county government, and a volunteer dive group. Two hundred and fifty corals of opportunity were collected, transplanted to the coral nurseries, and monitored for survival. Transplanted colony survival was similar to that of naturally attached control colonies and significantly greater than that of corals of opportunity left unattached. Results provide resource managers with information on the utility of using corals of opportunity as a source of transplant donor colonies, and the value of using coral nurseries to create a reserve of corals of opportunity for use in future coral reef restoration activities

The developmental course of illicit substance use from age 12 to 22: links with depressive, anxiety, and behavior disorders at age 18

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72027/1/j.1469-7610.2008.01915.x.pd

Examining Pregnant Women's Hostile Attributions About Infants as a Predictor of Offspring Maltreatment

Child maltreatment is a serious public health problem that disproportionately affects infants and toddlers. In the interest of informing prevention and intervention efforts, this study examined pregnant women’s attributions about infants as a risk factor for child maltreatment and harsh parenting during their children’s first and second years. We also provide specific methods for practitioners to assess hostile attributions

Hypothesis-based Restoration Study For Mitigation of a Damaged SE Florida Coral Reef: A Work in Progress

The United States Submarine Memphis (Figure 1) ran aground in approximately 10 meter depth on a coral reef off southeast Florida (Figure 2) February 25, 1993. Extensive physical damage to the reef substrate and injury to the coral community were attributed to the initial grounding and subsequent attempts to free the submarine from the impacted reef (Figures 3 and 4). The impact of the grounding was assessed, and the area of damage was determined through field and photographic studies. An impacted area of 2,310 m2 was assessed with 1,205 m2 having been totally destroyed (Figures 3 and 4). In 1997, the State of Florida was awarded a settlement of $750,000 by the Federal government for environmental damages caused by the submarine grounding. A plan to perform hypothesis testing of restoration techniques was developed and initiated. Using artificial reefs as experimental platforms, we are examining three restoration strategies: 1) the potential of enhancing coral recruitment through the use of coral larval attractants, 2) the effect of reef structure on the associated fish assemblages, and 3) the interaction between fish assemblages and coral recruitment and survival