Little is known about the long-term effects of universal preventive interventions delivered during the elementary grades. Now a study by the University of Washington, Seattle, has results through to the age of 21 for just such a program.

Richard Catalano, director of the Social Development Research Group in Seattle, talks about how he came to devote his professional career to understanding and intervening in the pathways to delinquency and drug abuse and what the consequences of this has been.

Universal programs aim to help make everyone’s situation better, but do they? Researchers in the USA looked at whether everyone benefits in equal measure.

Costing programs is as important as knowing whether they work, but cost-benefit analysis as part of an evaluation is rare. Researchers need to make sure that this is part of what they do if they are to convince those who commission services.

Children’s needs are usually understood by local authorities using flawed methods of assessment. Researchers show how to make use of better methods to collect information on children’s needs and then use this information to ensure services meet these needs.

How do scientists make known difficult concepts and findings? An innovative project in the USA set about seeking to overcome this common problem.

Twenty years after it was adopted, is the Convention of the Rights of the Child; nothing more than a cover for politicians to pay lip service to children’s welfare or an important marker of universal standards?

While rigid determinism has been cast aside as the way to view child development, risk factors still need to be seen as dynamic and changing. A recent study of harsh parenting underlies the need to be sensitive to the varying conditions under which threats to children emerge.

A US television network scores a ratings hit with a reality TV show which gives young people a taste of life behind prison bars. But it is silent on the evidence which shows the program not only doesn’t work but may in fact be counterproductive.

The current push by the Westminster government for “the Big Society” in England means less government and more community engagement. It throws an interesting light on findings from the previous administration’s approach to improving child outcomes.

Three years after its publication, and with the Westminster government taken with the concept, is Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein’s “nudge’” theory having any impact on prevention?

What does not work isn’t always rejected as evidence about Family Group Conferences.

From the Harvard academic who worried Western societies with warnings that the essential fabric of community life was wearing out comes something worse 15 years and 9/11 later: evidence that inequalities are tearing the US remnant in two.

While rigid determinism has been cast aside as the way to view child development, risk factors still need to be seen as dynamic and changing. A recent study of harsh parenting underlies the need to be sensitive to the varying conditions under which threats to children emerge.

Many young people enjoy their first taste of financial independence by getting a job in high school. But are they paying a heavy long-term price for the privilege? New research suggests students’ educational attainment and health may turn out to be the victims.

There is much faith in all kinds of schemes to help children learn to read, but not all are backed by good evidence of effectiveness. A recent review by Bob Slavin and colleagues brings together what we know to give clear guidance about what works best.

A study in Sweden of the use of multi-systemic therapy (MST) shows that there can be problems in using interventions across national boundaries.

An implementation evaluation shows that the Family Nurse Partnership has overcome the first hurdle of implementing the programme in the UK. However, it also warns of dangers arising from funding and local support.

Too few long-term evaluations of early intervention programs are available, but the one of the Incredible Years program offers a rare insight.

New research into the Incredible Years parenting program shows why the intervention works and with whom.