ABSTRACT
Can a book written about 35 years ago be relevant to contemporary parents, psychologists and educators? Before I address this question, I must declare an interest and a position. I worked under John and Elizabeth Newson from 1977 to 1983, first as a Master’s student training in Clinical Child Psychology, next as a PhD supervisee with John and then on an independent postdoctoral fellowship but still a member of their Child Development Research Unit. The CDRU was a lively place, with a constant throughput of families, journalists, visiting academics and clinical/educational psychology trainees. It might be assumed that such a busy and public centre of excellence would reflect the accepted canons of research and theory. However, the Newsons’ approach to psychology was considered by many even in the same department to be at odds with that of the cutting edge of the discipline, with its emphasis on journal publications in which every point closely cites references to the continuing and new debates in the literature. In this chapter I will argue that their longitudinal study has had a lasting influence on policymakers and practitioners, despite the fact that it had limited implications for research and theory in developmental psychology.
