While in the late 1970s and early 1980s health compliance research on adults represented a vigorous field of study, a marked decline of interest on the topic set in during the last part of the 1980s. By contrast, research on health compliance involving pediatric populations was less popular during the same period; however, interest in this topic -- as evidenced by the contributions to this volume -- is on the increase. Four main themes -- relating to theory, measurement, prevention, and intervention -- emerge and are interwoven among the chapters. These themes help to bind and unify the...

Based on the presentations given by well-known specialists at a recent multidisciplinary conference of developmental psychobiologists, obstetricians, and physiologists, this book is the first exhaustive attempt to synthesize the present scientific knowledge on fetal behavior. Utilizing a psychobiological analytic approach, it provides the reader with an overview of the perspectives, hypotheses, and experimental results from a group of basic scientists and clinicians who conduct research to elucidate the role of fetal behavior in development. Experimental and clinical as well as human and...