What the Cambridge-Somerville studies remind us of (aside from the fact that some of our preconceptions about the causes and correlates of adult success may be in need of revision) is something very important about tension systems. Most normal human psyches are more robust and less subject to either early- or late-occurring trauma than our intuitions tell us (Kagan, 1984). Similarly, most normal communities like Cambridge-Somerville are more potent and stable in their influences on potentially deviant individuals than we recognize. By the same token, positive interventions, no matter how early
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The importance of community ecology
