Applied Developmental Science

The focus of this multidisciplinary journal is the synthesis of research and application to promote positive development across the life span and across the globe. The journal publishes research that generates knowledge about human development that informs public dialogue, social policy, and preventive and development optimizing interventions. The applied developmental science orientation is defined by three conjoint emphases. The applied aspect reflects its direct implication for what individuals, families, practitioners, and policymakers do. The developmental aspect emphasizes a focus on systematic and successive changes within individual and social systems that occur across the life span. The science aspect underscores the need to use a range of research methods to collect reliable and objective information in a systematic manner to test the validity of theory and application. The convergence of these three aspects leads to a fostering of a reciprocal relationship between theory and application as a cornerstone of applied developmental science, one wherein empirically based, developmental theory not only guides intervention strategies and social policy, but is influenced by the outcome of these activities. Furthermore, the convergence calls for a multidisciplinary perspective aimed at integrating information from biological, medical, social, and behavioral science disciplines.