該多學科期刊的重點是綜合研究和應用，以促進積極的發展跨越生命跨度和全球。該雜志發表的研究成果產生了有關人類發展的知識，為公共對話、社會政策、預防和優化發展干預提供了信息。應用發展科學的定位是由三個共同的重點確定的。應用方面反映了它對個人、家庭、從業者和決策者所做事情的直接含義。發展方面強調關注在整個生命周期內發生的個人和社會系統內的系統和連續的變化。科學方面強調需要使用一系列研究方法，以系統的方式收集可靠和客觀的信息，以檢驗理論和應用的有效性。這三個方面的融合，形成了理論與應用的相互關系，作為應用發展科學的基石，發展理論以經驗為基礎，不僅指導干預策略和社會政策，而且受到這些活動結果的影響。此外，這種融合需要一個多學科的視角，旨在整合來自生物、醫學、社會和行為科學學科的信息。鑒于這一多學科方向，該雜志發表的研究采用了各種嚴格的定性和定量方法，當它們對發展科學在人類生命中的應用具有重要意義時，任何一種方法都可以使用。特別歡迎與整個生命周期內發展的多樣性有關的手稿、跨國和跨文化研究、與社會正義有關的研究以及關于應用發展科學所涉及的方法和措施的研究。該雜志沒有發表試點研究。作者應該包括分析技術，以表明結果的影響大小和有關研究樣本性質的信息。

The focus of this multidisciplinary journal is the synthesis of research and application to promote positive development across the life span and across the globe. The journal publishes research that generates knowledge about human development that informs public dialogue, social policy, and preventive and development optimizing interventions. The applied developmental science orientation is defined by three conjoint emphases. The applied aspect reflects its direct implication for what individuals, families, practitioners, and policymakers do. The developmental aspect emphasizes a focus on systematic and successive changes within individual and social systems that occur across the life span. The science aspect underscores the need to use a range of research methods to collect reliable and objective information in a systematic manner to test the validity of theory and application.The convergence of these three aspects leads to a fostering of a reciprocal relationship between theory and application as a cornerstone of applied developmental science, one wherein empirically based, developmental theory not only guides intervention strategies and social policy, but is influenced by the outcome of these activities. Furthermore, the convergence calls for a multidisciplinary perspective aimed at integrating information from biological, medical, social, and behavioral science disciplines.Given this multidisciplinary orientation, the journal publishes research employing any of a diverse array of rigorous qualitative as well as quantitative methodologies, when they have important implications for the application of developmental science across the human life span. Manuscripts pertinent to the diversity of development throughout the life span, cross-national and cross-cultural studies, studies pertinent to social justice, and research about the methods and measures involved in applying developmental science are particularly welcome. The journal does not publish pilot studies. Authors should include analytic techniques that indicate the effect size of findings and information about nature of the sample studied.