A Report to the Nation -- Hardwired to Connect: The New Scientific Case for Authoritative Communities -- Primal Connections -- The Biochemistry of Family Commitment and Youth Competence: Lessons from Animal Models -- How Mother Nurture Helps Mother Nature: Scientific Evidence for the Protective Effect of Good Nurturing on Genetic Propensity Toward Anxiety and Alcohol Abuse -- Investing in Children and Society: What We Have Learned from Seven Decades of Attachment Research -- Meaning and Morality -- The Consolidation of Conscience in Adolescence -- Best Bets for Improving the Odds for Optimum Youth Development -- Moral and Spiritual Dimensions of the Healthy Person: Notes from the Founders of Modern Psychology and Psychiatry -- Connecting to the Transcendent -- Hardwired for God: A Neuropsychological Model for Developmental Spirituality -- A Tale of Two Religious Effects: Evidence for the Protective and Prosocial Impact of Organic Religion -- Focused on Their Families: Religion, Parenting, and Child Well-Being -- Minding the Children with Mindfulness: A Buddhist Approach to Promoting Well-Being in Children -- The Changing Connections of Adolescence -- The Psychobiology of Adolescence -- Elders and Sons -- Spirituality and Resilience in Adolescent Girls -- Connecting to Community -- Promoting Well-Being Among At-Risk Children: Restoring a Sense of Community and Support for Development -- Sex, Guns, and Rock ‘n’ Roll: The Influence of Media in Children’s Lives -- The Civil Society Model: The Organic Approach to Building Character, Competence, and Conscience in Our Young People -- Commentaries -- Caring and Character: How Close Parental Bonds Foster Character Development in Children -- Gather Around the Children.

Authoritative Communities: The Scientific Case for Nurturing the Whole Child introduces innovative solutions based firmly in the children’s mental health and resilience literature and in the hypothesis that humans are "hardwired to connect." These "authoritative communities" consist of such individuals and institutions as parents, teachers, coaches, elders, and a variety of organizations that are committed to each other’s well-being over the long-term and who instill children with prosocial values such as empathy and compassion. Living within these communities enables children and youth to develop a consistent sense of purpose and meaning, so that they, in turn, are able to grow up to be responsible, productive, and nurturing adults. The comprehensive coverage in this volume bring new insights and evidence to the nature/nurture debate from developmental, attachment, neurobiological, spiritual, and community perspectives, including: Nurturing as a protective factor against genetic predispositions. Counteracting the adverse influence of the media on children. Promoting a sense of community in disadvantaged youth. Spiritual approaches, from the Buddhist "minding children with mindfulness" to traditional young men’s rites of passage. Adolescent development, from psychobiology to the formation of conscience. Dispatches from the civil society movement, the School Development Program, and the motherhood movement. This volume is essential reading for researchers and practitioners as well as graduate-level students in developmental, clinical, and social psychology as well as related fields such as sociology, social work, education, and religious studies.