Authoritative Communities The Scientific Case for Nurturing the Whole Child

Authoritative Communities: The Scientific Case for Nurturing the Whole Child introduces innovative solutions based firmly in the children’s mental health and resilience literature and in the hypothesis that humans are "hardwired to connect." These "authoritative communities" consist of such individuals and institutions as parents, teachers, coaches, elders, and a variety of organizations that are committed to each other’s well-being over the long-term and who instill children with prosocial values such as empathy and compassion. Living within these communities enables children and youth to develop a consistent sense of purpose and meaning, so that they, in turn, are able to grow up to be responsible, productive, and nurturing adults.

The comprehensive coverage in this volume bring new insights and evidence to the nature/nurture debate from developmental, attachment, neurobiological, spiritual, and community perspectives, including:

• Nurturing as a protective factor against genetic predispositions.
• Counteracting the adverse influence of the media on children.
• Promoting a sense of community in disadvantaged youth.
• Spiritual approaches, from the Buddhist "minding children with mindfulness" to traditional young men’s rites of passage.
• Adolescent development, from psychobiology to the formation of conscience.
• Dispatches from the civil society movement, the School Development Program, and the motherhood movement.

This volume is essential reading for researchers and practitioners as well as graduate-level students in developmental, clinical, and social psychology as well as related fields such as sociology, social work, education, and religious studies.

Kathleen Kovner Kline, M.D., is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and an adjunct faculty member at Dartmouth Medical School. She serves on the Medical Staff of Children’s Hospital in Denver. She is the principal investigator for the Commission on Children at Risk’s Report to the Nation, Hardwired to Connect: the New Scientific Case for Authoritative Communities. She received her M.D. from Yale Medical School, and her Masters of Divinity from Yale Divinity School. She completed her psychiatric training at the Institute of Living/University of Connecticut Psychiatry Program, and her Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at Dartmouth Medical School. At the University of Colorado and at Dartmouth, she has taught child and adolescent development and psychopathology to medical students, pediatricians, family practitioners, psychiatrists, child and adolescent psychiatry fellows, and trainees in psychology and social work. Her clinical practice has included treating child and adult patients in acute hospital and outpatient settings, directing diagnostic and psychopharmacology clinics, and consultation to treatment centers for delinquent and severely emotionally impaired youth. She has a history of involvement with grass roots, community service, and religious institutions, and a particular interest in the role of character-shaping institutions in the prevention of psychosocial maladjustment.