Examines the factors that influence children's development. This new edition has been revised and updated to include the latest research and topical issues such as child obesity and the impact of community violence, international conflict and terrorism. Editors from Macquarie University, Australia.

Table of Contents

FIGURES AND TABLES; PREFACE; ACKNOWLEDGMENTS; CONTRIBUTORS; PART A: CONTEXTS AND CONSEQUENCES; 1. Contexts and Consequences: Impacts on Children, Families and Communities; 2. Research on Children, Families and Communities; PART B: CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILDREN: EFFECTS OF DISABILITY, ETHNICITY, GENDER AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY; 3. Disability: Characteristics, Contexts and Consequences; 4. Ethnicity: Spotlight on Person-context Interactions; 5. Playfulness: Interactions between Play Contexts and Child Development; PART C: FACE TO FACE INFLUENCES: FAMILIES, SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITIES; 6. Families as a Context for Children; 7. From Home to the World beyond: The Interconnections among Family, Care and Educational Contexts; 8 Isolation in Rural, Remote and Urban Communities; 9. Refugees in Australian Society; PART D: BEYOND FACE TO FACE POLICY: 'IN THE BEST INTERESTS' OF CHILDREN; 10. Child Protection and Substitute Care: The Responsibility of Families, Community and State; 11. Strong State Intervention: The Stolen Generations; 12. Child Care and Australian Social Policy; 13. Children, Families and Communities: Looking Forward