Why Becoming a Good Parent Begins in Infancy: How Relationship Skills Are Developed throughout the Life Course

Learning and applying social skills can be enhanced or impeded by the environments in which children live and develop. Professionals, policymakers, family members, friends, and members of communities all can and do shape those environments. This issue brief outlines the potential to improve relationships and individual and social well-being by identifying the common skills and values that underlie each developmental stage and consciously reinforcing previously learned positive skills in the settings in which people live, learn and work.