The Nature of Nurture (Sage Series on Individual Differences and Development)

Are there certain periods in a child′s development when he or she may be more sensitive to specific environmental influences than at earlier or later times? Are preschool teachers equally nurturant to securely attached versus insecurely attached children? Are girls more sensitive than boys to parental maltreatment? Designed to synthesize what we know about the nature of environmental influences (nurture) upon development, Wachs artfully explores whether development depends upon a sole factor--the rearing environment, genetics, nutrition, or individual characteristics-- or, whether the degree of directional consistency combined with the extent of covariance among these factors may have the most developmental impact. Issues such as how individuals respond differently to stress, medical treatment, parenting styles, teaching approaches and daycare centers are all discussed through careful analysis of research and theories from a variety of fields. Researchers, teachers, and intervention specialists of developmental psychology, family studies, social psychology, education, and nursing will find The Nature of Nurture an inspiration to further examine how environmental systems determine variability in developmental outcomes and what can be done to promote optimal outcomes for individual children. USE IN NEXT AD (2/1/94): "In The Nature of Nurture Wachs does precisely what he intends to do. He lays out clearly and thoroughly what we know and do not know about environmental influences on human development, and he builds on the conceptual and empirical work of others to move research on environmental effects forward in productive and exciting ways. . . . [It] should serve as a bible for future research on the environment and development. As such, it is a must read for developmental psychologists from all specialty areas, to graduate students, and to upper level undergraduates. This is an eminently readable and important book." --Contemporary Psychology "The Nature of Nurture