Masud Hoghughi is Director of Aycliffe Centre for Children, County Durham and Honorary Professor of Psychology, University of Hull. He is the author of Troubled and Troublesome (1978) and The Delinquent (1983) and co-author of Assessing Problem Children (1980) and Treating Problem Children (1988). Dr. Long is a Professor of Pediatrics and the Director of Pediatric Psychology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and a licensed clinical psychologist. He is also the Director of the Center for Effective Parenting. Dr. Long has published extensively in the area of parenting and has been a frequently invited speaker on parenting at the national and international level. In addition, Dr. Long has also developed, evaluated, and disseminated various parenting programs. Dr. Long and his colleagues of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-funded "Parents Matter" study found that early prevention efforts with parents to reduce sexual intentions of adolescents can be effective. One-year follow-up data from the Parents Matter study indicates that parents participating in the prevention intervention, relative to the control intervention, demonstrated increased parent-pre-adolescent sexual communication and improved parent comfort with and responsiveness to sex-related questions. The CDC is currently replicating this study in Kenya. The CDC is also developing training materials for a national dissemination of this prevention program. Dr. Long continues to be actively involved in conducting parenting classes, having taught an average of 600 parents per year in parenting classes over the past 15 years. Dr. Long has a leadership role in several regional and national organizations concerned with parenting and children.

PART ONE: KEY CONCEPTSParenting - An Introduction - Masud HoghughiThe Social Context of Parenting - David Utting and Gillian PughParenting in Social and Economic Adversity - Christine PuckeringParenting across the Lifespan - Martin HerbertParental Influences on Vulnerability and Resilience - Carole A Kaplan and Julie OwensParenting in Culturally Divergent Settings - Lee M Pachter and Thyde Dumont-MathieuReligious Influences on Parenting - Stephen FroshParenting in Restructured and Surrogate Families - Jan PryorSexual Orientation and Parenting - Charlotte J Patterson and Erin L SutfinGrandparenting and Extended Support Networks - Peter K Smith and Linda M DrewPART TWO: FUNCTIONAL AREASParenting and Children¿s Physical Health - Elizabeth SolidayParenting Chronically Ill Children - The Scope and Impact of Pediatric Parenting Stress - Randi Streisand and Kenneth P TercyakParenting Influences on Intellectual Development and Educational Achievement - Sally M WadeParenting Exceptional Children - Susan McGawParenting Anitsocial Behavior - Dana K Smith, Peter G Sprengelmeyer and Kevin J MooreParenting Antisocial Children and Adolescents - Beth A Kotchick et alParenting and Mental Health - Colleen S Conley et alParenting Children with Mental Health Problems - Fiona K Miller and Jennifer M JenkinsPART THREE: PARENT SUPPORTAssessing and Delivering Parent Support - Harriet HeathCommunity-Based Support for Parents - Judy Hutchings and Carolyn Webster-StrattonTowards a Multi-Level Model of Parenting Intervention - Matthew R Sanders and Alan RalphE-Parenting - Nicholas Long

The Handbook of Parenting represents a single volume contextualization of the growing level of interest in research, educational and professional activity within the broadly defined field of parenting. Contributions come from a diverse range of disciplines and provide an accessible `map' of the major debates in theory, research and practice in this vast and exciting field.