Here's what Bryan Samuels, executive director of Chapin Hall, says about The Nurture Effect, a book by Tony Biglan that will be published March 1, 2015.

One year ago, Chapin Hall hosted a forum entitled Child Well-being: A Framework for Policy and Practice. Among our guests was Tony Biglan, Senior Scientist at the Oregon Research Institute and one of the country's foremost thinkers on the development and prevention of child and adolescent problem behaviors.  

Tony's investigation of approaches that improve child and adolescent behaviors focuses on the need to create nurturing environments where children can develop physically, cognitively, emotionally, behaviorally, and socially.

His latest thinking is presented in a new book, The Nurture Effect: How the Science of Human Behavior can Improve Our Lives and Our World, scheduled for publication on March 1. I am privileged to have previewed the work and strongly recommend it to all who are interested in developing new policy, research, and practice for solving individual and social problems.

The Nurture Effect tells the story of the tremendous progress that behavioral scientists have made in improving human well-being, discusses how we can ensure that policy starts with a basis in objective, significant evidence, and offers evidence-based interventions that can prevent many of the psychological and behavioral problems that plague our society. Finally, the book outlines four universal principles of nurturing environments that create the best chances for success. 

I encourage you to get a copy of The Nurture Effect for yourself and read Tony's findings. They have significant import for all of us.

With best regards,

Bryan Samuels

Executive Director