Figures and tables; Contributors; Foreword Klaus Jacobs; Acknowledgments; Part I. Introduction and Overview: 1. Introduction P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale, Kathleen Kiernan and Ruth J. Friedman; 2. Life-course development: the interplay of social-selection and social causations within and across generations Avshalom Caspi; Part II. Human Capital: 3. An overview of economic and social opportunities and disadvantage in European households Brian Nolan and Bertrand Maitre; 4. Parental, childhood, and early adult legacies in the emergence of adult social exclusion: evidence on what matters from a British cohort John Hobcraft; 5. Individual and parent based intervention strategies for promoting human capital and positive behavior Greg J. Duncan and Katherine Magnuson; Part III. Partnership Behavior: 6. Cohabitation and divorce across nations and generations Kathleen Kiernan; 7. The intergenerational transmission of couple instability E. Mavis Hetherington and Anne Mitchell Elmore; 8. Strengthening partnerships and families Kurt Hahlweg; Part IV. Psychological Health and Development: 9. Intergenerational continuities and discontinuities in psychological problems Michael Rutter; 10. Environmental influences on intellectual abilities in childhood: findings from a longitudinal adoption study Michel Duyme, Louise Arsenault, Annick-Camille Dumaret; 11. Intervention and policy as change agents for young children Jeanne Brooks-Gunn; Part V. Conclusion: 12. Human development and the potential for change from the perspective of multiple disciplines: what have we learned? P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale and Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal; Index.