Child psychology: the future

Knowledge regarding the mechanisms of development is the aspect in most urgent need of attention, so that we can specify the processes responsible for children's progression from one stage to another. In particular, social influence processes need to be clarified, for past attempts to provide adequate socialisation theories have been hampered by various conceptual and methodological problems. Care must also be taken not to tie such theories to outdated stereotypes of the family; recent social changes and developments in the field of reproductive technology are raising new issues that need to be taken into account in attempts to explain the social context of child development.