Family And Environment

PROLOGUE: Francis Galton, the controversial nineteenth-centuryBritish scientist (and cousin of Charles Darwin), is creditedwith coining the phrase "nature versus nurture" to distinguishamong characteristics one is born with and those acquired asa result of one’s surroundings. Although there is farfrom universal agreement about the relative effects of heredityversus environment, the question has sparked a fertile fieldof study and active debate that continues to this day.

Two distinct but related papers in this volume address importantexternal contributors to health and well-being: family influencesand the broader environment. In the first, Anne Case and ChristinaPaxson document some of the ways in which parental behaviorand socioeconomic status affect the health of children. Parents(especially mothers) can have a lasting influence on the lifelonghealth of their offspring, starting in the prenatal period.The choices parents make and the conditions in which they liveoften result in potentially avoidable health problems; the policydebate over this troublesome issue is lively and often makesnews headlines (as in the use of crack cocaine, tobacco, andalcohol and their proven effects on children’s healthand well-being).

The discussion of the broader effects of the environment onhealth takes the form of an interview between Bernie Goldstein,dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health,and Jeffrey Koplan, head of the federal Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention in Atlanta. Their combined insights andexperiences emerge in an interesting discussion of the intersectionsof behavior, the environment (including germ warfare and toxinsin the air, water, and soil), and population health.

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Family & Environment

PROLOGUE

Family And Environment