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Conclusions 471In chapter 18, M. Rosario Rueda and colleagues address the question of intervention;specifically, what neurodevelopmental processes could be altered inchildhood so that adolescent mental disorders might be prevented? They point tothe broad evidence indicating that a number of mental disorders depend criticallyon disorganization of an executive attention system subserved by neural circuitsthat include the frontal lobes, as well as the anterior cingulate and basal ganglia.Although executive attention deficit is not necessarily the defining characteristicof adolescent-onset disorders, there is evidence that improved effortful controlmay help people overcome vulnerability to a range of disorders. Along these samelines, Mark Greenberg and colleagues (chapter 20) and Patricia Gorman Barryand Marilyn Welsh (chapter 19) conclude that the temporal course of the developmentof the frontal lobes underscores the importance of childhood preventiveinterventions aimed at enhancing cognitive abilities that can increase resilience.Although the frontal lobes and the networks connecting them to the limbic systemmaintain an ability to restructure throughout the entire life span, the most rapidadvances in the structural organization of the networks probably occur duringchildhood.Stressors During AdolescenceResearch reviewed in this volume also underscores the critical role of stress duringadolescence in the emergence of psychopathology. Various authors have delineatedmechanisms whereby a preexisting genetic or other vulnerability leads to abnormalbrain development that is made more vulnerable to disorder under conditions ofstress. Grace (chapter 11), Walker et al. (chapter 12), Alloy and Abramson (chapter13), and Chang et al. (chapter 14) note how this can lead to psychosis or mood disorderin those with the preexisting vulnerability. Alloy and Abramson note howcognitive processes that are quite normal in development can make female adolescentsmore vulnerable to depression under conditions of stress. Adolescents’ increasedsensitivity to stress suggests that interventions to help increase the ability tocope with stress during adolescence may be a useful strategy among those with thecritical vulnerabilities. If adolescents with predisposition to depression or psychosisand their families (who often also exhibit the same symptoms) were given skillsto cope with their stressful environments, the likelihood of transition to disorder maybe reduced. Cooper and colleagues (chapter 15) review several of these strategiesfor increasing resilience following trauma. This recommendation echoes the conclusionsderived from the Annenberg Sunnylands Commissions that examined interventionstrategies for preventing further progression of disorder once the earlysigns were present (Evans et al., 2005).Universal Training of Executive Coping SkillsIn addition to selective interventions for those with signs of disorder, universal trainingprograms for children in the early years of school may also produce beneficial