The role of context in children's development

Our concern in this book is to understand how the contexts of child development influence how children develop into maturity. It focuses on individual differences in behaviour and life trajectory. To provide an introduction to these issues and to the chapters that follow, we will explore how genetics and the environment – nature and nurture – work together to influence the way children develop. This chapter will review some major theories of how context influences development (with a focus on the work of Urie Bronfenbrenner), explore models of risk and resilience, and present an account of the science of epigenetics, which offers new insights into how genes and environment combine to influence development. In this way, the reader will have tools and terms for understanding the major contextual influences on children – the focus of the book – as well as for appreciating how genetics and the environment combine in their impact on the developing child