This volume describes cutting-edge methods and strategies for assessin g a comprehensive array of childhood disorders, child health risks, an d adolescent problems. Contributors highlight the ongoing interplay am ong behaviors, cognitions, and affects as they unfold within the young person's social network. Each chapter presents a conceptual framework for understanding the problem at hand, discusses assessment procedure s that can be used to inform clinical interventions, and reviews the a vailable empirical data. A major emphasis is placed on the family and the broader social environment, both as a context for understanding th e child's strengths and weaknesses and as a focus for assessment and i ntervention. Also addressed are such contemporary themes as the need f or developmental and cultural sensitivity in assessment, combining cat egorial diagnosis with dimensional classification, assessment as a dec ision-making process, and prevention-oriented assessments.