How much change is possible over a lifetime and across generations? What is realistic in what we can do to promote healthy human development in our world? A group of leading international scholars in the fields of psychology and psychiatry, economics, and sociology address these important questions. Contributions cover marriage, divorce, and "living together"; poverty or economic disadvantage; and psychological traits and health, and how these affect parents and their children. Each section also has a chapter on interventions to improve lives.