Doing research in the context of programs designed to promote the psychosocial competence of children and adolescents is an important road to understanding the fundamental anatomy of social development. NEW DIRECTIONS FOR CHILD AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT, no. 98, Winter 2002 © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 43 4 Risk and Prevention: Building Bridges Between Theory and Practice Robert L. Selman As a developmental psychologist whose research and practice continually inform my theoretical ideas, I am pleased to have this opportunity to share a brief history of my professional career. For over thirty years, our working group (the Group for the Study of Interpersonal Development—or GSID) has conducted research and implemented practice that fosters social com- petence in children and youth. We have always included a focus on the challenges youth face, be it psychopathology in their families, poverty in their neighborhoods, or prejudice in their society. Here, I will focus on the theoretical work, research, practice, and institutional inventions we have employed to prevent the range of problems that might occur if children grow up without the protection social competence provides. This chapter will give you a brief yet comprehensive history of the the- oretical and practice changes in our model of psychosocial development. The title of this chapter points to my two goals. First, I hope to demonstrate how the road between theory and practice has been a two-way street for me, and how a “research attitude” facilitated this two-way traffic. Second, I will describe how Risk and Prevention (R & P), a master’s level program we designed and initiated at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1992, evolved to serve as a vehicle to traverse that road. I served as its director through the end of 1999. In addition, in outlining the evolution of our model, the incorporation of theory and practice, not only from my work but also from the work of my mentors and students will highlight the relation- ship between this research attitude and the creation of R & P.