Summary

This volume describes cutting-edge methods and strategies for assessing a comprehensive array of childhood disorders, child health risks, and adolescent problems. Contributors highlight the ongoing interplay among behaviors, cognitions, and affects as they unfold within the young person's social network. Each chapter presents a conceptual framework for understanding the problem at hand, discusses assessment procedures that can be used to inform clinical interventions, and reviews the available empirical data. A major emphasis is placed on the family and the broader social environment, both as a context for understanding the child's strengths and weaknesses and as a focus for assessment and intervention. Also addressed are such contemporary themes as the need for developmental and cultural sensitivity in assessment, combining categorical diagnosis with dimensional classification, assessment as a decision-making process, and prevention-oriented assessments.