Preface

Introduction: Children in Society

PART 1 INFANCY

Is Institutional Child Care Beneficial to Children?

Yes: ``The High/Scope Perry Preschool Project,'' Juvenile Justice Bulletin (October 2000)

Greg Parks

No: The Irreducible Needs of Children: What Every Child Must Have to Grow, Learn, and Flourish (Perseus Publishing, 2000)

T. Berry Brazelton

Stanley I. Greenspan

Does Maternal Employment Have a Negative Effect on Infant Development?

Yes: ``Early and Extensive Maternal Employment and Young Children's Socioemotional Development: Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth,'' Journal of Marriage and the Family (November 1991)

Jay Belsky

David Eggebeen

No: ``A Home Is Not a School: The Effects of Child Care on Children's Development,'' Journal of Social Issues (vol. 47, no. 2, 1991)

K. Alison Clarke-Stewart

Should Scientists Be Allowed to Clone Children?

Yes: ``Cloning Trevor,'' The Atlantic Monthly (June 2002)

Kyla Dunn

No: ``Of Clones and Clowns,'' The Atlantic Monthly (June 2002)

Robert A. Weinberg

Does Transracial Adoption Harm a Child's Development?

Yes: ``Symbolic Interactionism, African American Families, and the Transracial Adoption Controversy,'' Social Work (September 1999)

Leslie Doty Hollingsworth

No: ``A Review of Empirical Research Involving the Transracial Adoption of African American Children,'' Journal of Black Psychology (May 1996)

Rudolph Alexander, Jr.

Carla M. Curtis

PART 2 EARLY CHILDHOOD

Is Spanking Detrimental to Children?

Yes: ``Spanking and the Making of a Violent Society,'' Pediatrics (October 1996)

Murray A. Straus

No: ``A Review of the Outcomes of Parental Use of Nonabusive or Customary Physical Punishment,'' Pediatrics (October 1996)

Robert E. Larzelere

Are Fathers Really Necessary?

Yes: ``Responsible Fathering: An Overview and Conceptual Framework,'' Journal of Marriage and the Family (May 1998)

W.J. Doherty

Edward F. Kouneski

Martha F. Erickson

No: ``Who Is Responsible for Responsible Fathering?'' Journal of Marriage and the Family (May 2000)

Alexis J. Walker

Lori A. McGraw

Does Divorce Create Long-Term Negative Effects for Children?

Yes: ``Divorce's Toll on Children,'' The American Enterprise (May/June 1996)

Karl Zinsmeister

No: ``Favorable Outcomes in Children After Parental Divorce,'' Journal of Divorce and Remarriage (vol. 18, nos. 3--4, 1992)

David Gately

Andrew I. Schwebel

Is Television Violence Viewing Harmful for Children?

Yes: ``Television Violence and Its Effect on Children,'' Journal of Pediatric Nursing (April 1996)

Merrilyn O. Johnson

No: ``The Whipping Boy: The Hidden Conflicts Underlying the Campaign Against Violent TV,'' Reason (March 2001)

Jib Fowles

PART 3 MIDDLE CHILDHOOD

Does Marriage Improve Living Standards for Children?

Yes: ``Healthy Marriages Provide Numerous Benefits to Adults, Children, and Society,'' Insight on the News (March 18, 2002)

Wade F. Horn

No: ``Marriage, Poverty, and Public Policy,'' The American Prospect Online, http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/2002/03/coontz-s-03-19.html (March 19, 2002)

Stephanie Coontz

Nancy Folbre

Are Stepfamilies Inherently Problematic for Children?

Yes: ``The Evolution of Marriage and the Problem of Stepfamilies: A Biosocial Perspective,'' in Alan Booth and Judy Dunn, eds., Stepfamilies: Who Benefits? Who Does Not? (Lawrence Erlbaum, 1994)

David Popenoe

No: ``Remarriages and Stepfamilies Are Not Inherently Problematic,'' in Alan Booth and Judy Dunn, eds., Stepfamilies: Who Benefits? Who Does Not? (Lawrence Erlbaum, 1994)

Lawrence A. Kurdek

Will School Vouchers Improve Children's Education?

Yes: ``Saying Yes to Vouchers: Perception, Choice, and the Educational Response,'' NASSP Bulletin (September 1995)

Kevin Walthers

No: ``Saying No to Vouchers: What Is the Price of Democracy?'' NASSP Bulletin (September 1995)

John F. Lewis

Do Bilingual Education Programs Help Non-English-Speaking Children Succeed?

Yes: ``Bilingual Education: Arguments For and (Bogus) Arguments Against,'' in James E. Alatis and Ai-Hui Tan, eds., Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics 1999: Language in Our Time: Bilingual Education and Official English, Ebonics and Standard English, Immigration and the Unz Initiative (Georgetown University Press, 2001)

Stephen Krashen

No: ``The Case Against Bilingual Education,'' The Atlantic Monthly (May 1998)

Rosalie Pedalino Porter

Will Stricter Dress Codes Improve the Educational Environment?

Yes: ``Uniforms Get Credit for Decrease in Discipline Problems,'' Education Week (February 14, 1996)

Jessica Portner

No: ``School Dress Codes v. the First Amendment: Ganging Up on School Attire,'' Paper Presented at the 78th Annual Convention of the Speech Communication Association (October 30, 1992)

Karon L. Jahn

PART 4 ADOLESCENCE

Should Children Who Are at Risk for Abuse Remain With Their Families?

Yes: ``Family Preservation in Missouri,'' Public Welfare (Spring 1993)

Lisa Kolb

No: ``When Parents Are Not in the Best Interests of the Child,'' The Atlantic Monthly (July 1994)

Mary-Lou Weisman

Is the Welfare of Disadvantaged Children Improving?

Yes: ``Making the Most of What We Already Know,'' Public Welfare (Spring 1994)

Lisbeth B. Schorr

No: ``What to Do About the Children,'' Commentary (March 1995)

William J. Bennett

Is Abstinence-Only Sex Education Effective?

Yes: ``School-Based Health Clinics and Sex Education,'' Probe Ministries International, http://www.probe.org/docs/clinics.html (1998)

Kerby Anderson

No: Advocates for Youth and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), from ``Toward a Sexually Healthy America: Roadblocks Imposed by the Federal Government's Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Education Program,'' a Report of Advocates for Youth and the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS) (2001)

Can Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse Be Recovered?

Yes: ``Running Away From Sexual Abuse: Denial Revisited,'' Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services (May 1995)

May Benatar

No: ``Wading Through the Muddy Waters of Recovered Memory,'' Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services (October 1995)

Susan P. Robbins

Contributors

Index