Asking how we can best support the health and well-being of infants and children in an era of rapid economic and technological change, this book presents findings on human development as both an individual and a population phenomenon. Topics discussed include links between socioeconomic status, achievement, and health; the impact of early experience upon brain and behavioral development; and how schools and communities can develop new learning environments to enhance adaptation and foster intellectual growth. Chapter 1, "Modernity's Paradox" (Daniel Keating and Clyde Hertzman), provides and introduction to the book. The remaining chapters are organized into four parts. The chapters in part 1, "The Gradient Effect in Developmental Health," are: (2) "Population Health and Human Development" (Clyde Hertzman); (3) "Health, Well-Being, and Coping Skills" (Chris Power and Clyde Hertzman); (4) "When Children's Social Development Fails" (Richard Tremblay); (5) "Quality and Inequality in Children's Literacy: The Effects of Families, Schools, and Communities" (J. Douglas Willms); (6) "Are Socioeconomic Gradients for Children Similar to Those for Adults?: Achievement and Health of Children in the United States" (Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Greg Duncan, and Pia Rebello Britto); and (7) "Socioeconomic Gradients in Mathematical Ability and Their Responsiveness to Intervention during Early Childhood" (Robbie Case, Sharon Griffin, and Wendy Kelly). The chapters in part 2, "Fundamental Processes: Biology and Development," are: (8) "Mechanisms of Brain Development: Neuronal Sculpting by the Physical and Social Environment" (Max Cynader and Barrie Frost); (9) "Developmental Trajectories, Early Experiences, and Community Consequences: Lessons from Studies with Rhesus Monkeys" (Stephen Suomi); (10) "Psychosocial Factors and Psychoneuroimmunology within a Lifespan Perspective" (Christopher Coe); and (11) "Individual Pathways in Competence and Coping: From Regulatory Systems to Habits of Mind" (Daniel Keating and Fiona Miller). Chapters in part 3, "Human Development and the Learning Society," are: (12) "The Learning Society: A Human Development Agenda" (Daniel Keating); (13) "Social Software for a Learning Society: Relating School and Work" (Thomas Rohlen); and (14) "Schools as Knowledge-Building Organizations" (Marlene Scardamalia and Carl Bereiter). Chapters in part 4,"The Ecology of Child Development: Lessons for a Learning Society," are: (15) "Lowering the Burden of Suffering: Monitoring the Benefits of Clinical, Targeted, and Universal Approaches" (David Offord, Helena Chmura Kraemer, Alan Kazdin, Peter Jensen, Richard Harrington, and J. Samuel Gardner); (16) "The Community as a Participative Learning Environment: The Case of Centraide of Greater Montreal 1,2,3 GO! Project" (Camil Bouchard); (17) "'It Takes a Village...,' and New Roads To Get There" (Alan Pence); and (18) "Developmental Health as the Wealth of Nations" (Daniel Keating). Contains 824 references. (LPP)