This book, the first in a series of collected works, traces the evolution of Problem Behavior Theory from its inception to its current status as a widely used framework for understanding and addressing risky behavior in youth and young adults. The theory is explored from its beginnings as a study of deviant behavior and alcohol abuse in a tri-ethnic community through its expansion to include psychosocial aspects of development, risk and protective factors, and health behavior in the larger societal context of youth behavior. In its current form, Problem Behavior Theory constitutes an interdisciplinary approach to research personal and societal factors that are involved in both normative and problematic behavior. Chapters highlight the many contributions of the theory to social science and its potential for informing evidence-based intervention and prevention programs for youth and young adults.

Topics featured in this book include:

• The Tri-EthnicCommunity Study.
• The Socialization of Problem Behavior in Youth Study.
• The Young Adult Follow-up Study.
• The problem behavior syndrome.
• The cross-national generality of Problem Behavior Theory.
• Problem Behavior Theory and adolescent pro-social behavior.

The Origins and Development of Problem Behavior Theory is a must-have resource for researchers/professors, clinicians, and related professionals as well as graduate students in social and developmental psychology, criminology/criminal justice, public health, social work, and related disciplines.

Autorentext
Richard Jessor, PhD, ScD, is Distinguished Professor of Behavioral Science and Professor of Psychology, Emeritus at the University of Colorado Boulder where he has spent his entire academic career. One of the founders of the university's Institute of Behavioral Science in 1959, he served as its Director from 1980 to 2001. He was Founding Director of the Institute's Research Program on Problem Behavior and, later, its Research Program on Health and Society. From 1987 to 1997, he also directed the Mac Arthur Foundation's Research Network on Successful Adolescent Development among Youth in High Risk Settings. He is the author or editor of ten books and has published over 135 articles and book chapters. In 2003, he was designated a Highly Cited Researcher in the Social Science: General category by the Institute for Scientific Information. 
Educated at the College of the City of New York and Yale University, where he received his B.A. degreein Psychology in 1946, Jessor received an M.A. from Columbia University in 1947 and a PhD in Clinical Psychology in 1951 from Ohio State University, where he was a student of Julian B. Rotter. He has been a consultant to various federal agencies and private foundations as well as the World Health Organization, Health and Welfare Canada, and UNICEF. He has served on several National Research Council panels and on the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development. He was an invited Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in 1995-96, and he received the Outstanding Achievement in Adolescent Medicine Award in 2005 from the Society for Adolescent Medicine. Jessor is, after 65 years, the longest-serving active faculty member at the University of Colorado. In May 2015, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa, by the Regents of the University of Colorado.

Inhalt
Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Problem Behavior Theory over the Years.- Chapter 3. Problem Behavior Theory: Initial Formulation for Research in a Tri-Ethnic Community.- Chapter 4. Problem Behavior Theory and Adolescent Development over Time.- Chapter 5. Problem Behavior Theory and the Transition to Young Adulthood.- Chapter 6. Problem Behavior Theory and the Problem Behavior Syndrome.- Chapter 7. Replicating the Co-Variation of Adolescent Problem Behavior.- Chapter 8. Problem Behavior Theory and Adolescent Risk Behavior: A Reformulation.- Chapter 9. Problem Behavior Theory and the Dynamics of Protection and Risk.- Chapter 10. The Cross-National Generality of Problem Behavior Theory.- Chapter 11. Problem Behavior Theory Adolescent Pro-Social Behavior.- Chapter 12. Conclusion.