Making decisions about children: psychological questions and answers

Series Editor's Preface to the Second Edition. Preface to First Edition. Preface to Second Edition. Part I: On Using Research: Sources of Decision Making. The Nature of Research. Part II: Children and Their Families: Issues for Research and Practice: When do Children First Form Attachments to Other People?How Long Can the Formation of the First Attachment Be Delayed?When Does Maternal Bonding Occur?Is There a 'Blood Bond'?Are Children Born by the New Reproductive Technologies at Risk?Do Women Make Better Parents than Men?Do Children Need a Parent of Each Sex?Does Separation from Parents Cause Psychological Trauma?Does Maternal Deprivation Bring About Long-term Damage?Should Mothers Go Out to Work?Is Group Daycare Bad for Young Children?Are Children Harmed by their Parents' Divorce?Does Marital Conflict Affect Children's Well-being?Can Children From Love Relationships to New Parent-figures?Does Parental Pathology Lead to Child Pathology?Do Early Problems Continue into Later Life?Does Family Poverty Affect Psychological Development?Who Becomes Antisocial?Is Physical Punishment Psychologically Harmful?Who are the Vulnerable Children?Part III: A View of Childhood: Some General Themes. A Concluding Note of Optimism. References. Name Index. Subject Index.

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This is a fully updated and revised edition of a book that bridges the gap between research and practice in the field of child and family psychology. It is addressed to all those professional people - psychologists, psychiatrists, family lawyers, social workers - who are responsible for arriving at decisions about children, and who require access to an information base provided by research from which they can derive guidelines for action. Making Decisions About Children therefore summarises our knowledge of the sorts of issues that are of concern of those working with children including the effects of maternal employment and of divorce, the implications of different family types and the comparative fitness of men and women as parents.A number of new issues are added to the second edition, dealing with such matters as the effects of marital conflict, the development of anti - social behaviour and the consequences of physical punishment. The book bridges the gap between research and practice, and will therefore prove to be an invaluable resource to students, academics and professionals alike in a wide range of disciplines.