title: Developmental psychology and public policy: progress and prospects.
abstract: This article outlines a framework for developmentally oriented policy research. Drawing from U. Bronfenbrenner's (1995) dynamic developmental systems theory, the authors suggest ways in which the key tenets of process, persons, context, and time can inform policy research in developmental psychology and can be used to support a causal interpretation of the results of those analyses. Conceptualizing public policies from a dynamic developmental systems perspective has a variety of implications for future research, and this article considers some of these implications.
authors.affiliation: School of Public HealthUniversity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7445, USA. emfoster@unc.edu
authors.forename: E Michael
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.forename: Ariel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kalil
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005544:Forecasting; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D002666:Psychology, Child / Q000639:trends*; D011640:Public Policy; D014481:United States