THE SEARCH FOR KNOWLEDGE OF THE CHILD AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HIS GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT—EXAMPLES FROM THE HARVARD LONGITUDINAL STUDIES

[摘要] First, I wish to express my deep appreciation for the Borden Award of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the recognition which it conveys, not only for my studies over the past 30 years but for the work of my associates who have contributed to them in many ways.Before discussing the studies for which I have been responsible I wish to emphasize that search for knowledge of the child has been undertaken by many people at different periods in many places and that pioneering in this particular field was underway in several places before I became interested in it. Also, several groups have been pioneering concurrently with us in the same or closely related fields. The Academy has already conferred a Borden Award on Washburn, who has been conducting most extensive longitudinal studies of children. That project and the one at the Fels Foundation, Antioch College, Ohio, under the direction of Sontag, were started at about the same time and are still continuing and expanding under the original direction. Time does not permit even naming the other projects which have been in operation over recent years in this and related fields.During the first two decades or more of the present century various cross-sectional studies were made and norms were developed to describe populations of children by age, supposedly to help to distinguish the abnormal from the normal child. The concept gradually emerged however, that to fully understand the significance of a child's developmental status it was necessary to follow his progress periodically and to obtain concurrently information as to the major features of his life experiences.I had the good fortune in 1928-1929 through two chance occurrences to be brought into this field of inquiry and to have close contacts with several leaders in it.

[学科分类] 儿科学