The aim of this proposal is to establish a Center for Developmental Science Research. The mission of the Center will be to undertake interdisciplinary behavioral science research on issues that directly pertain to the objectives outlined in Healthy People 2000. This proposal holds that simultaneous focus on basic science and applied interventions should produce better science and more effective interventions. According to the developmental perspective, the individual develops and functions as a totality. The study of behavior development thus requires attention to the interplay among processes across time frames, levels of analysis, and contexts. The time frames employed should be relative to the lifetime of the phenomena to be understood, hence the periods may be as short as milliseconds or minutes, and as long as years or decades. The proposal also calls for more adequate balance in units of analysis. When appropriate, empirical study should extend beyond the individual and dyad to include assessments of the social network, neighborhood, community, and culture. Such extensions require sensitivity to ethnic and community issues, on the one hand, and a re-examination of research designs, measurement, constructs, and strategies of analysis, on the other. The collaboration of a community of investigators on specific research issues seems required in order to effectively address these fundamental issues. The proposed Center for Developmental Science Research provides a mechanism for such collaboration across universities, disciplines, and academic rank. Twenty-five researchers in areas from developmental genetics and pediatrics to life course sociology and anthropology will participate in the research activities of the Center. Five core units are proposed. These include: (a) Core l: family processes, cognitive development, and school entry; (b) Core 2: development in special populations of minority youth; (c) Core 3: biobehavioral and genetic factors in development; (d) Core 4: methodology and training; and (e) Core 5: administration and organization. An Advisory Board of eminent developmental scientists has agreed to provide scientific oversight for the Center and its programs, including the review and monitoring of its major empirical research projects.
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