Promoting Positive and Healthy Behaviors in Children (PDF)
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THE CARTER CENTER PROMOTING POSITIVE AND HEALTHY BEHAVIORS IN CHILDREN PROMOTING POSITIVE AND HEALTHY BEHAVIORS IN CHILDREN Rosalynn Carter he 1998 topic for our symposium is a bit different from previ- ous symposia. This year, we decided to focus on something Tpositive that addressed children, so our topic is Promoting Posi- tive and Healthy Behaviors in Children. Our intent is to direct attention to the need for fostering positive and healthy behaviors in children, which then can increase the likelihood of their developing into well-adjusted young people and decrease the chances of problem behaviors later in life. All of us in the mental health field recognize that if we give children a good start in life, they have a much better chance of growing up healthy, both physically and mentally. Today, there is great concern about the healthy development of children. With so many unfortunate, ROSALYNN CARTER often severe, incidents involving children, we are beginning to think more about not only trying to prevent and treat problems, but about pro- moting behaviors, skills, and characteristics that equip children to cope more effectively with life’s challenges. Why do some young people emerge from high-risk situations with their self-esteem intact, blessed with the capacity to work well, play well, love well, and respect well? I have heard that these so-called resilient children have somehow been “immunized,” making them more resistant to the ill effects of life’s stresses and risks. We are going to look at children in their total environment — in their homes, schools, and communities. Of course, we will not be able to cover all of the problems nor all of the possibilities, but this symposium will hopefully serve as a first step toward devoting more of our attention and resources to what is right with children. 1 THE CARTER CENTER PROMOTING POSITIVE AND HEALTHY BEHAVIORS IN CHILDREN 2 THE CARTER CENTER PROMOTING POSITIVE AND HEALTHY BEHAVIORS IN CHILDREN CONTENTS OPENING REMARKS ROMOTING OSITIVE Rosalynn Carter .................................................................................... 1 P P AND HEALTHY BEHAVIORS 1998 SYMPOSIUM CONTRIBUTORS IN CHILDREN Biographical Sketches of the Symposium’s Participants ............................................. 4 Produced by the Mental Health Program of The Carter Center INTRODUCTION Rosalynn Carter, Chairperson William Foege, Promoting Mental Health — The Value of Positive Outcomes .............. 7 The Carter Center Mental Health Task Force KEYNOTE ADDRESS John J. Gates, Ph.D., David Hamburg, A Developmental Strategy for Lifelong Benefit .............................12 Director, Mental Health Program Lei Ellingson, M.P.P., PANEL: Promoting Positive Outcomes: Programs, Measures, and Issues Assistant Director, Mental Health Program Tammy Mann, Zero to Three ..................................................................... 20 David Weikart, The Case for Early Education ..................................................25 Everett Hullum & Nao Yamashita Roger Weissberg, Healthy Children 2010: Next Steps?........................................30 Editing and Design Portrait photography by Kathryn EVENING ADDRESS Kolb; all other photographs from Martin Seligman, The Epidemic of Depression Among American Youth ....................37 stock agencies or North American Mission Board. Used by permission. PANEL: Promoting Positive Outcomes: Programs, Measures, and Issues The articles in this publication are Peter Benson, Uniting Communities to Promote Child and Adolescent Development....... 41 adapted from addresses delivered at the Fourteenth Annual Rosalynn Carter Kathy Marshall, Reculturing Systems With Resilience/Health Realization ................... 48 Symposium on Mental Health Policy, Tamara Halle, Creating Indicators of Positive Development ...................................59 November 18 and 19, 1998. Marc Bornstein, Young Children and Positive Characteristics .................................66 The Fourteenth Annual Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health POST-SCRIPT Policy is made possible by funding from: John Gates, Recommended Developmental Objective for Healthy People 2010 .............. 74 • The Annie E. Casey Foundation • Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank IN CLOSING • Gannett Communities Fund, WXIA-TV, 11 Alive Rosalynn Carter .................................................................................... 78 • The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Panelist Organizations ..................................................................... 81 • The John D. and Catherine T. Organizational Representatives and Special Guests ..................................... 83 MacArthur Foundation The Carter Center Mental Health Task Force........................................... 86 • National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health 3 THE CARTER CENTER PROMOTING POSITIVE AND HEALTHY BEHAVIORS IN CHILDREN 1998 SYMPOSIUM CONTRIBUTORS PETER s president and chief executive Award from the Human Relations Area BENSON, Aofficer of Search Institute in Files, the B.R. McCandless Young Sci- M.D. Minneapolis, Dr. Benson leads a staff of entist Award from the American Psy- 70 social scientists and change agents chological Association, and the U.S. dedicated to promoting the health and Public Health Service Superior Service well-being of America’s children and Award from the National Institutes of adolescents. His work on developmental Health. Dr. Bornstein has held faculty assets and healthy communities pro- positions at Princeton University and vides the intellectual foundations for a New York University, as well as aca- national movement involving more demic appointments at international than 300 communities. He is the author institutions. of nine books. His most recent, All Kids Dr. Bornstein sits on the editorial Are Our Kids (Jossey-Bass), provides a boards of several professional journals, is pioneering look at the intersection of a member of scholarly societies in a community and human development. variety of disciplines, and consults for Dr. Benson lectures widely, serves as a governments, foundations, universities, consultant to federal agencies and foun- publishers, scientific journals, the me- dations, and is an adjunct professor of dia, and UNICEF. He is editor of Child Educational Policy at the University of Development, and has contributed scien- Minnesota. tific papers in the areas of human ex- Dr. Benson holds memberships on perimental, methodological, compara- many nonprofit and national advisory tive, developmental, cross-cultural, boards. He has authored many scientific pediatric, and aesthetic psychology. papers in the area of child and adoles- cent development, community develop- WILLIAM r. Foege is a professor in the De- ment, social psychology, education, and FOEGE, Dpartment of International Health the psychology of religion. M.D., in Emory University’s Rollins School of M.P.H. Public Health. He served as director of MARC r. Bornstein is senior investigator the U.S. Centers for Disease Control BORNSTEIN, Dand head of Child and Family and Prevention from 1977 to 1983, and PH.D. Research at the National Institute of was executive director of The Carter Child Health and Human Develop- Center from 1987 to 1992. Since 1992, ment, where he received a Research he has been a Fellow for Health Policy Career Development Award. A J.S. at The Carter Center. Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, he has In 1984, Dr. Foege and several col- received numerous awards including the leagues formed The Task Force for C.S. Ford Cross-Cultural Research Child Survival and Development. 4 THE CARTER CENTER PROMOTING POSITIVE AND HEALTHY BEHAVIORS IN CHILDREN Sponsored by the World Health Organi- behavior and health as a major compo- zation, UNICEF, the World Bank, the nent in the contemporary burden of ill- United Nations Development Pro- ness. In recent years, he has concentra- gramme, The Rockefeller Foundation, ted on child and adolescent development. and the United Nations Population Dr. Hamburg is the author of Fund, The Task Force focuses on a Today’s Children: Creating a Future for a broad range of issues to improve the Generation in Crisis (1992). He was quality of life for children worldwide. chairman of the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, which com- TAMARA r. Halle is a research associate pleted a decade-long study with a re- HALLE, Dwith Child Trends, Inc. She is port, Great Transitions: Preparing Adoles- PH.D. compiling indicators of child well-being cents for a New Century. related to education and achievement for its publication, Tr ends in the Well- TAMMY r. Mann is the director of the Being of America’s Children and Youth: MANN, DEarly Head Start National 1998. She also is evaluating new mea- PH.D. Resource Center at Zero to Three. She sures of parenting and racial/ethnic so- also holds an adjunct appointment at cialization for their applicability across Howard University in the Department racial/ethnic groups. of Human Development and Psycho- Dr. Halle is a developmental psy- educational Studies. Before joining the chologist whose research has focused on staff at Zero to Three, Dr. Mann served the social influences on children’s cog- as a Public Policy Fellow at the Ameri- nitive development. She is collaborat- can Psychological Association. Her ing on projects related to the influence professional interests continue to focus of early childhood experiences on later on translating research into practice as academic achievement. it relates to