The following article was reprinted with permission of the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) from:  News & Views (Vol. 25, No. 6; March/April 1999) 

The Decade of Behavior 2000-2010
by Jean Tyler

Recognizing that individual and group behaviors are at the root of many problems in our society, the American Psychological Association (APA) is spearheading a broad-based initiative, the Decade of Behavior (DOB). The initiative is designed to increase awareness and understanding of the contributions of behavioral and social sciences research in helping solve intractable problems facing our nation.

Already, an impressive coalition of behavioral and social science organizations, private foundations, academic departments and research-sponsoring agencies of the federal government has formed in support of the DOB. The initiative has also received endorsements from four Directors of the National Institutes of Health. [The Society for Public Health Education's] SOPHE's Board of Directors formally endorsed the DOB at the last annual meeting. SOPHE representatives have attended organization meetings as observers and to provide informal input.

The DOB has named 12 prominent social scientists to a National Advisory Committee that will plan the initiative's formal launch, scheduled for late 1999, as well as set primary goals for a public education campaign and mapped the behavioral and social science research agenda for the next decade. The committee's first meeting was held in Washington in January 1999. One of its first tasks is to organize support for a Congressional proclamation on the DOB.

Three key themes are tied directly to major strengths offered by the behavioral and social sciences:

1. A healthier nation

The DOB will focus attention on the critical connections between behavior and health, with an emphasis on prevention of illness throughout the life cycle. Other important issues include developing a clearer understanding of the behavioral underpinnings of drug addiction and chronic diseases.

2. A safer nation

The initiative will seek to organize a national effort to enhance the safety and security of all citizens in all aspects of life, including families, communities, places of employment and modes of transportation.

3. A better-educated nation

Research on how children think and learn, optimal ways to retrain adults for high-technology jobs, and interventions for adults with limited reading and writing skills are among the issues critical to improving the educational opportunities offered in this country.

Richard McCarty, Executive Director for Science of the American Psychological Association, notes that issues of productivity, technology and diversity are interwoven in all three major themes, and that behavioral and social scientists have the requisite training and skills to provide critical research support and to develop innovative interventions to ensure that our nation continues to prosper. By labeling the first decade of the new century the Decade of Behavior, the initiative seeks to boost the involvement of behavioral and social scientists in the critical issues facing our nation on an unprecedented scale.

For additional information, contact Richard McCarty at (202) 336-5938 or E-mail: rmccarty @apa.org