The recent Institute of Medicine report on prevention (National Research Council & Institute of Medicine, 2009) noted the substantial interrelationship among mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders and pointed out that, to a great extent, these problems stem from a set of common conditions. However, despite the evidence, current research and practice continue to deal with the prevention of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders as if they are unrelated and each stems from different conditions. This article proposes a framework that could accelerate progress in preventing these problems. Environments that foster successful development and prevent the development of psychological and behavioral problems are usefully characterized as nurturing environments. First, these environments minimize biologically and psychologically toxic events. Second, they teach, promote, and richly reinforce prosocial behavior, including self-regulatory behaviors and all of the skills needed to become productive adult members of society. Third, they monitor and limit opportunities for problem behavior. Fourth, they foster psychological flexibility—the ability to be mindful of one's thoughts and feelings and to act in the service of one's values even when one's thoughts and feelings discourage taking valued action. We review evidence to support this synthesis and describe the kind of public health movement that could increase the prevalence of nurturing environments and thereby contribute to the prevention of most mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. This article is one of three in a special section (see also Muñoz Beardslee, & Leykin, 2012; Yoshikawa, Aber, & Beardslee, 2012) representing an elaboration on a theme for prevention science developed by the 2009 report of the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

This article considers the implications for prevention science of recent advances in research on family poverty and children's mental, emotional, and behavioral health. First, we describe definitions of poverty and the conceptual and empirical challenges to estimating the causal effects of poverty on children's mental, emotional, and behavioral health. Second, we offer a conceptual framework that incorporates selection processes that affect who becomes poor as well as mechanisms through which poverty appears to influence child and youth mental health. Third, we use this conceptual framework to selectively review the growing literatures on the mechanisms through which family poverty influences the mental, emotional, and behavioral health of children. We illustrate how a better understanding of the mechanisms of effect by which poverty impacts children's mental, emotional, and behavioral health is valuable in designing effective preventive interventions for those in poverty. Fourth, we describe strategies to directly reduce poverty and the implications of these strategies for prevention. This article is one of three in a special section (see also Biglan, Flay, Embry, & Sandler, 2012; Muñoz, Beardslee, & Leykin, 2012) representing an elaboration on a theme for prevention science developed by the 2009 report of the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The 2009 Institute of Medicine report on prevention of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders (National Research Council & Institute of Medicine, 2009b) presented evidence that major depression can be prevented. In this article, we highlight the implications of the report for public policy and research. Randomized controlled trials have shown that the incidence of major depressive episodes can be significantly reduced. Meta-analyses suggest that 22% to 38% of major depressive episodes could be prevented with currently available methods. We argue that if major depressive episodes can be prevented, the health care system should provide routine access to evidence-based depression prevention interventions, just as it provides inoculations for other common and debilitating health problems. At the same time, researchers should pursue the major directions advocated by the Institute of Medicine report to increase the enduring effectiveness of future prevention interventions. These directions include taking a developmental perspective, learning to identify groups at high risk, and testing evidence-based interventions that are likely to have the widest reach. Scientific evidence has shown that clinical depression can be averted. Our societies must take action to reduce clinical depression to the lowest possible level. This article is one of three in a special section (see also Biglan, Flay, Embry, & Sandler, 2012; Yoshikawa, Aber, & Beardslee, 2012) representing an elaboration on a theme for prevention science developed by the 2009 report of the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The association between marriage and well-being has led to policies that promote marital interventions and discourage divorce. These include federal initiatives specifically targeting poor couples and couples of color. While there are many prospective studies on marriage that have informed some couple interventions, the studies that are included in this literature sampled predominantly White and middle-class couples. By comparison, far less is known about the longitudinal predictors of relationship satisfaction and status for poor couples and couples of color. Therefore, it is unsurprising that preliminary data on applying current interventions to the couples targeted by these federal initiatives have been disappointing. In this article, I detail three concerns with these initiatives, propose a course of psychological research to address deficits in what is known about poor couples and couples of color, and make specific recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of these initiatives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The authors examine the effects of poverty-related adversity on child development, drawing upon psychobiological principles of experiential canalization and the biological embedding of experience. They integrate findings from research on stress physiology, neurocognitive function, and self-regulation to consider adaptive processes in response to adversity as an aspect of children's development. Recent research on early caregiving is paired with research in prevention science to provide a reorientation of thinking about the ways in which psychosocial and economic adversity are related to continuity in human development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Presents an obituary for Robyn Mason Dawes. Robyn saw psychology as a servant of society, obligated to pursue the ethical implications of its results (as with clinical judgment) and to let social concerns shape its research agenda. Moral concerns drove Robyn’s professional life as well as his research. He took on demanding administrative positions because someone needed to do them. Those included being vice-president of the Oregon Research Institute during a tumultuous period, heading the University of Oregon’s Department of Psychology, and leading Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Social and Decision Sciences during its transition from a multidisciplinary department to an interdisciplinary center for decision-making research. Although he had no hunger for publicity, Robyn assumed the role of public intellectual when he thought that scientists bore an obligation to create policies consistent with their results. Robyn’s contributions were recognized in many ways. He was elected president of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making and of the Oregon Psychological Association. He was a fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Statistical Association, the Center for Rationality and Interactive Decision Making of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. At his death, he was Charles J. Queenan Jr. University Professor at Carnegie Mellon. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Presents an obituary for G. Alan Marlatt. In a career spanning more than four decades, G. Alan Marlatt conducted research that fundamentally changed how psychologists and society view addiction. No other scientist has introduced more innovation to addiction theory, research, and practice, successfully challenging orthodoxy and demonstrating how addictive behaviors can be viewed in the context of core psychological and social processes. In addition to his work on traditional cognitive-behavioral interventions involving active problem-solving and challenging of irrational beliefs, Marlatt was a long-time practitioner of meditation and a pioneer in integrating meditation techniques into evidenced-based treatment approaches for addictions. In recent years, such approaches have moved from the innovative to the mainstream. With the passing of G. Alan Marlatt, psychological science has lost a giant who forever changed the landscape of the profession and influenced the scientific development of multiple generations of psychologists. Indeed, many of his former students and postdoctoral trainees have gone on to become leading researchers in the psychology of addiction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Presents an obituary for Peter Lorimer Benson. When Peter Lorimer Benson died suddenly on October 2, 2011, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the youth of the world lost one of their great champions. Peter’s transcendent contribution was giving people a vocabulary for talking about what youth need. It was scientific but sensible to adults and youth alike. He mobilized programs but also widespread informal asset-building, showing that everyone, not just parents and experts, could play a role in helping youth grow up healthy, responsible, caring, and productive—that “all kids are our kids.” Peter had a profound impact on youth development and positive psychology, not only because of his scholarship but because he embodied the qualities he sought to promote in youth—passion and zest, integrity, caring and friendliness, respect for and celebration of individual differences, and an infinite capacity to imagine the unimaginable. He was endlessly curious, and he loved deeply the work he did and the people with whom he worked. He was humble, took criticism easily, and loved to have his ideas debated, whether with a small group of youths or, with thousands watching, the Dalai Lama. Peter Benson dedicated his professional and personal life to ensuring that all young people had a solid foundation on which to grow into the persons they were meant to be, enriching and bettering the world in the process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Presents an obituary for Arthur Weider. Arthur Weider was born on May 5, 1919, in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in the nearby Bronx. At age 14, he decided on a career in psychology after reading Warren and Carmichael’s Elements of Human Psychology. Spanning the worlds of psychology, psychiatry, and neurology, Arthur’s published works included more than 50 articles and the edited books Contributions Toward Medical Psychology (1953, Ronald Press), Readings in Behavioral Science (1977, Dabor Science Publications), and Psychodiagnostic Methods for the Behavioral Sciences (1977, Dabor Science Publications). He held the copyright to the Cornell Index, a personality measure still in use by police departments around the world. A lover of life, Arthur owned two restaurants and a discotheque frequented by the likes of Rudolf Nureyev and Reggie Jackson. He once owned two racehorses. Arthur was a raconteur, a man of wit, and the creator of many a bon mot. He was also enormously compassionate and ever present for his patients. Arthur died at age 91 on November 8, 2010. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

presents an obituary for Jerry J. Bigner. Jerry J. Bigner died on July 30, 2011, after a brief illness, in Maui, Hawaii, where he had recently moved. He was born May 24, 1944, in Jekyll Island, Georgia. Jerry was the author of Parent–Child Relations: An Introduction to Parenting (Prentice Hall, 2009; the 9th edition was under way) and editor or co-editor of numerous volumes on same-sex couples (e.g., An Introduction to GLBT Family Studies, 2006, Hayworth Press). He conducted research on parenting and was known for his tireless advocacy on behalf of gay and lesbian families, giving expert testimony during a time when it was risky to be a public voice. During his career, Jerry won numerous professional awards, but none was as important to him as his recognition by his alma mater, Florida State University, in 2005 at the College of Human Sciences Centennial Celebration, where he reconnected with his mentor, Nora-jane Hendrickson. For those who never had the privilege of knowing Jerry, he had a wonderful smile and an unforgettable laugh, a positive approach to life, and an insatiable appreciation of nature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Comments on the original article, "Nonrational processes in ethical decision making" by M. D. Rogerson et al (see record 2011-19198-001). Among the many insightful points made by Rogerson, Gottlieb, Handelsman, Knapp, and Younggren (October 2011) regarding nonrational processes in ethical decision making, one deserves further explication: Many of psychologists’ ethical decisions lead to actions done to someone. Unfortunately, frameworks and models of ethical decision making frequently neglect this fact by implying that the decisions happen in the abstract, but in truth, these decisions often affect a specific recipient. Importantly, the characteristics of that specific recipient, especially as perceived by the psychologist, can have a powerful impact on the process of ethical decision making (Caughron et al., 2011). It would be wise to add such a hypothetical to the list of specific questions that Rogerson et al recommended psychologists ask themselves: Would I make the same ethical decision if the person(s) toward whom the decision is directed had different characteristics? (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Comments on the original article, "Nonrational processes in ethical decision making" by M. D. Rogerson et al (see record 2011-19198-001). The current authors suggest that Rogerson, Gottlieb, Handelsman, Knapp, and Younggren (October 2011) presumed that the only ethical theories available for grounding decision-making models are of the rational, neoliberal variety. Rogerson et al stated, “Contextual, interpersonal, and intuitive factors are inextricably linked and inexorably influential in the process of ethical decision making. Ethical theory would benefit from encompassing these subtle yet powerful forces” (Rogerson et al., 2011, p. 616). They sought to augment these models with a cluster of contextual considerations, appending to them accounts of emotion, context, and intuition. First, notwithstanding the theories attributed to (the caricature of) Kant and his ilk, there are several ethical theories that include an account of what Rogerson et al. (2011) consider to be “nonrational” processes. From feminist theories to narrative ethics, sophisticated contextual theories have been developed and are readily available. Second, we question whether thick contextual considerations can simply be tacked on to extant models of decision making originally built upon a philosophical foundation that assumes a rational, autonomous agent who deliberates independently and logically. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Responds to the comments by Pomerantz (see record 2012-12428-009) and Sisti and Baum-Baicker (see record 2012-12428-010) on the current authors' original article, "Nonrational processes in ethical decision making" (see record 2011-19198-001). Pomerantz (2012) further explicated one interpersonal and contextual factor—the perceived characteristics of the recipient of any act. He cited evidence that these characteristics affect ethical decisions, and he raised the important question of whether they should. Sisti and Baum-Baicker (2012) questioned whether “rational, neoliberal” (p. 325) decision-making models are sufficient. They offered instead a theory based on virtues and clinical wisdom, which they called a “rational-intuitive skill” (p. 325) that cannot be reflected adequately in a flowchart or set of guidelines. These two comments demonstrate some of the nuance and complexity that we discussed in our article (Rogerson et al., 2011). First, there is often a tension between the way people do behave (descriptive models) and the way they should behave (normative models). Second, there is a need for practical guidance in making decisions, but explicit steps, processes, and guidelines often fail to account for the complex factors that influence difficult ethical decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)