My thirty years of teaching child development have brought me in contact with thousands of students like you-students with diverse college majors, future goals, interests, and needs. Some are affiliated with my own department, psychology, but many come from other child-related fields-education, sociology, anthropology, family studies, and biology, to name just a few. Each semester, my students' aspirations are as varied as their fields of study. Many look toward careers in applied work with children- teaching, caregiving, nursing, counseling, social work, school psychology, and program administration. Some plan to teach child development, and a few want to do research. Most hope someday to have children, whereas others are already parents who come with a desire to better understand and rear their own youngsters. And almost all arrive with a deep curiosity about how they themselves developed from tiny infants into the complex human beings they are today.

My goal in preparing this fourth edition of Infants, Children, and Adolescents is to provide a textbook that meets the instructional goals of your course as well as your personal needs. To achieve these objectives, I have grounded this book in a carefully selected body of classic and current research brought to life with stories and vignettes about children and families, many of whom I have known personally. In addition, the text highlights the interactive contributions biology and environment make to the developing child, explains how the research process helps solve real-world problems, emphasizes the broader social and educational contexts in which the child develops, and pays special attention to policy issues that are crucial for safeguarding children's well-being in today's world. I have also provided a unique pedagogical program that will assist you in mastering information, integrating various aspects of development, critically examining controversial issues, reflecting on your own childhood experiences, and applying what you have learned.

Pedagogical Features

Maintaining a highly accessible writing style-one that is lucid and engaging without being simplistic-continues to be one of this text's goals. I will frequently speak directly to you and encourage you to relate what you read to your own life. In doing so, I hope to make the study of child development involving and pleasurable.

Stories and Vignettes About Children. To help you construct a clear image of development and to enliven the text narrative, each chronological age division is unified by case examples woven throughout that set of chapters. For example, within the infancy and toddlerhood section, we'll look in on three children, observe dramatic changes and striking individual differences, and address the impact of family background, child-rearing practices, and parents' and children's life experiences on development. Besides a set of main characters, many additional vignettes offer vivid examples of development and diversity among children. Student response to this feature has been so positive that I have enhanced it. Caitlin, Grace, and Timmy, whom you'll meet in Chapters 5 to 7, are new to this edition.

Chapter Introductions and End-of-Chapter Summaries. To provide a helpful preview of what you are about to read, I include an outline and overview of chapter content in each chapter introduction. Especially comprehensive end-of-chapter summaries, organized according to the major divisions of each chapter and highlighting important terms, will remind you of key points in the text discussion. Review questions are included in the summaries to encourage active study.

Ask Yourself . . . Active engagement with the subject matter is supported by study questions at the end of each major section. Four types of questions prompt you to think about the subject matter in diverse ways: Review questions help you recall and comprehend information you have just read; Apply questions encourage you to apply your knowledge to controversial issues and problems faced by parents, teachers, and children; Connect questions help you build an image of the whole child by integrating what you have learned across age periods and domains of development; and Reflect questions make the study of child development personally meaningful by asking you to reflect on your own development and that of others you know well.

Boxes. Four types of boxes accentuate the philosophical themes of this book.

  • Cultural Influences boxes uunderscore the impact of culture on all aspects of development. They include Immigrant Youth: Amazing Adaptation; Young Children's Daily Life in a Yucatec Mayan Village; Cultural Variations in Personal Storytelling: Implications for Early Self-Concept; and Identity Development Among Ethnic Minority Adolescents.

  • Biology and Environment boxes present a balanced, interconnected view of key biological and environmental influences on development. Examples include Uncoupling Genetic-Environ-mental Correlations for Mental Illness and Antisocial Behavior; Factors that Control the Timing of Birth; Development of Infants with Severe Visual Impairments; Parent-Child Interaction and Cognitive Development of Deaf Children; and Inter-generational Continuity in Adolescent Parenthood.

  • Social Issues boxes discuss the condition of children around the world and emphasize the need for sensitive social policies and interventions to ensure their well-being. This edition includes two types: Social Issues: Health boxes address values and practices relevant to children's physical and mental health. Examples include The Prenatal Environment and Health in Later Life; Otitis Media and Development; Children's Eyewitness Testimony; and Like Mother, Like Child: Intergenerational Continuity in Adolescent Parenthood. Social Issues: Education boxes focus on home, school, and community influences on children's learning. They include: When Are Children Ready for School? Academic Redshirting and Early Retention; Dispositions Toward Collective Struggle: Highly Achieving, Optimistic African-American High School Students; and Development of Civic Responsibility

Caregiving Concerns and Educational Concerns Tables. To accentuate the relationship of theory and research to practice, two types of tables provide easily accessible practical advice. Caregiving Concerns tables emphasize caring for, protecting, and supporting children's physical, emotional, and social well-being. They include Ways Couples Can Ease the Transition to Parenthood, Keeping Infants and Toddlers Safe, and Adult Practices that Support Healthy Identity Development. Educational Concerns tables focus on effective teaching strategies. Examples include Signs of Developmentally Appropriate Child Care, Enhancing Make-Believe Play in Early Childhood, Signs of High-Quality Education in Elementary School, and Factors that Support High Achievement During Adolescence.

Milestones Tables. A Milestones table appears at the end of each chronological age division of the text. These tables summarize major physical, cognitive, language, and emotional and social developments of each age span. Entries in the Milestones tables are page-referenced to the text narrative to facilitate study and review.

Additional Tables, Illustrations, and Photographs. Additional tables are liberally included to help you grasp essential points in the text discussion, extend information on a topic, and consider applications. The many full-color illustrations throughout the book depict important theories, methods, and research findings. In this edition, the photo program has been extended. Each photo has been carefully selected to portray the text discussion and to represent the diversity of children around the world.

Marginal Glossary, End-of-Chapter Term List, and End-of-Book Glossary. Mastery of terms that make up the central vocabulary of the field is promoted through a marginal glossary, an end-of-chapter term list, and an end-of-book Glossary. Important terms and concepts also appear in boldface type in the text narrative.

FYI . . . For Further Information and Help. Students in my classes frequently ask where they can go to find out more about high-interest topics or to seek help in areas related to their own lives. To meet this need, I have included an annotated section at the end of each chapter that provides the names, phone numbers, and website addresses of organizations that disseminate information about child development and offer special services.

Study Aids

Beyond the study aids found in the textbook, Allyn and Bacon offers a number of supplements for students. Ask your instructor or your bookstore about their availability.

Study Guide. Prepared by JoDe Paladino and Laura E. Berk, Illinois State University, this helpful guide offers Chapter Summaries, Learning Objectives, Study Questions organized according to major headings in the text, "Ask Yourself " questions, Suggested Readings, Crossword Puzzles for mastering important terms, and multiple-choice Self-Tests.

Practice Tests. Twenty multiple-choice items per chapter plus an answer key with justifications are drawn from the test bank to assist you in preparing for course exams.

Websites. Visit http://www.ablongman.com/berk, a companion website that offers multiple-choice online practice tests. In addition, with the purchase of a new textbook, you gain access via a PIN code to a robust website that encourages interactive learning by providing a wealth of activities that have been specially created for this textbook. Also provided are many links to relevant sites and access to top journal articles to assist you with research.

I hope your experience learning about child development will be as rewarding as I have found it over the years. I would like to know what you think about both the field of child development and this book. I welcome your comments; please feel free to send them to me at Department of Psychology, Box 4620, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790, or in care of the publisher, who will forward them to me.

-Laura E. Berk