While in the late 1970s and early 1980s health compliance research on adults
represented a vigorous field of study, a marked decline of interest on the topic
set in during the last part of the 1980s. By contrast, research on health
compliance involving pediatric populations was less popular during the same
period; however, interest in this topic -- as evidenced by the contributions to
this volume -- is on the increase.
Four main themes -- relating to theory, measurement, prevention, and
intervention -- emerge and are interwoven among the chapters. These themes help
to bind and unify the volume into a conceptual whole because although the
sections