Training the Applied Developmental Scientist for Prevention and Practice: Two Current Examples

Toward a Science for and of the People: Promoting Civil Society through the Application of Developmental Science

“…Integrating concepts such as individualÐenvironment dialectics (Riegel, 1975(Riegel, , 1976, the ecology of human development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), developmental systems (Ford & Lerner, 1992;Sameroff, 1983;Thelen & Smith, 1998;Wapner & Demick, 1998), developmental contextualism (Lerner, 1991), and the home economics/human ecology vision of integrative (communityÐcollaborative, multidisciplinary, and multiprofessional) scholarship (Bubolz & Sontag, 1993;Miller & Lerner, 1994), scholars have sought to test ideas about whether altering the nature of the relationships children have within their contexts (with their families, school, or communitybased, youth-serving programs) can diminish the problems besetting contemporary youth and their families. This orientation to scholarship underscores the need to conduct research in real-world settings, and highlights the ideas that: (1) Policies and programs constitute natural experiments, i.e., planned interventions for people and institutions (Lerner, 1995); and (2) the evaluation of such activities becomes a central focus of applied developmental research Fisher & Osofsky, 1997;Fisher, Rau, & Colapietro, 1993;Lerner, Fisher, & Weinberg, in press).…”

Beyond “Giving Science Away”: How University‐Community Partnerships Inform Youth Programs, Research, and Policy

“…The Office of Child Development at the University of Pittsburgh links funding, research, and programs on issues related to children, youth, and families (McCall, Groark, Strauss, & Johnson, 1995). Departments of applied developmental science promote faculty and student work in partnership with local communities (Fisher & Osofsky, 1997;Fisher, Rau, & Colapietro, 1993;Fitzgerald et al, 1996;Lerner, 1995). Many of these collaboratives utilize University Extension, a nationwide system that has been in place in land-grant universities since the late 1800s.…”

Applied Developmental Science, Social Justice, and Socio-Political Well-Being

“…Racism in the United States has a long history marked by social and political constructions of group differences governed by the political and social interests of the ruling racial caste (Anderson & Massey, 2001;Miles, 1989;Fisher, 1999;Fisher et al, 1998). As a social construction, ''race'' reflects a division of individuals into groups rooted in historical racial oppression translated into locally prescribed ways of thinking about social groups and institutionalized inequities in access to economic, political, and social resources (Fisher et al, 1997). Categorizing individuals into socially constructed racial groupings has been used to exclude members of these groups from full participation in the U.S. political system (Almaguer, 1994;Ignatiev, 1995).…”