Nature, Nurture, and the Transition to Early Adolescence

by Stephen A. Petrill (Editor), Robert Plomin (Editor), John C. DeFries (Editor)

Some of the most intriguing issues in the study of cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development arise in the debate over nature versus nurture; a debate difficult to resolve because it is difficult to separate the respective contributions of genes and environment to development. The most powerful approach to this separation is through longitudinal adoption studies. The Colorado Adoption Project (CAP) is the only longitudinal adoption study in existence examining development continuously from birth to adolescence, which makes it a unique, powerful, and tremendously valuable resource. CAP is an ongoing assessment of 245 adopted children and 245 biological control children assessed from birth to early adolescence. This book is the fourth in a series describing CAP results. This latest volume, edited by four eminent researchers in developmental psychology, builds on the large body of research already generated by investigating the role of genes and environments on early adolescent development. Because it is the only volume on the most comprehensive investigation of the effect of genes and environments on early adolescent development, this work will be invaluable to researchers in developmental, cognitive, and social psychology.

344 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Stephen Hickman · Rating 1 out of 5]

A great cover and title convinced me this would be worth a read but I am afraid that to the layman this is unintelligible. Almost every page explains the methodology of the research with equations and symbols that are another language. I imagined that the end of each chapter there might at least be a plain english narrative that would bring into sharp focus the proposition alluded to in the title. How wrong I was. Only at the end in conclusions was there a nod to the general reader and the nod is barely an acknowledgment. While the authors may claim that the book makes no claims to be other than a collection of longitudinal studies, the packaging and the fact I found it in a general bookshop puts it, to my mind, in the territory of a false promise. This is a book for professors and clinical psychologists whose daily focus is on clinical papers and research. If you are not so academically equipped this is definitely not for you.