Promoting the Health of Adolescents: New Directions for the Twenty-first Century

Abstract

Proposals to reform the health care, education, and welfare systems are making news now more than ever before. The concept that adolescent health deserves special consideration as these reforms go forward is supported by the recent publication of the<i>AMA Guidelines for Adolescent Preventive Services (GAPS)</i>. The<i>GAPS</i>National scientific Advisory Board was cochaired by Susan G. Millstein, PhD, who, along with Anne C. Petersen, PhD, and Elena O. Nightingale, MD, PhD, have edited<i>Promoting the Health of Adolescents: New Directions for the Twenty-first Century</i>. The volume is a collection of essays that reflect the multifactorial influences on adolescent health and well-being and present a biopsychosocial view of health, defined by the World Health Organization as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease and infirmity." With the support of the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, the editors have produced a text that