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These findings indicate that maternal age primarily indexes parity and education but contributes minimally to breastfeeding duration via a direct effect. The findings have implications for intervention development and targeting strategies.

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This special section of Child Development brings together experts in developmental science and intervention research to incorporate current evidence on resilience for vulnerable populations and give concrete suggestions for action and research. This commentary synthesizes the contributions of the articles, noting themes such as simultaneous attention to multiple risk, protective, and promotive processes; integrating new principles from clinical and therapeutic interventions; and adapting intervention approaches for new populations. It then describes additional directions for interventions to maximize resilience, including approaches that address social psychological processes, issues related to demographic and other forms of diversity, policy-related individual behaviors, and sequenced interventions across the life span. It also gives suggestions for integrating implementation science on expansion and scale with behavioral intervention science.

Background/Aims: For mothers in high-income country contexts, infant feeding represents one of the most fundamental and challenging aspects of the transition to parenthood. We present a specific theoretical model, based on life course theory principles, to explicate how the maternal ecology influences breastfeeding behaviors throughout the early parenting years. Methods: Core concepts and suppositions draw from a review of extant theories for the development of infant feeding behaviors, including intraindividual models of health behavior and bioecological models of human development. We highlight where the model has strong evidentiary support and where there are gaps in the literature. Results: This review shows how life course theory has been used to describe the consequences of infant feeding behaviors, but has yet to be fully applied to the causes of those behaviors. The natural extension of life course theory to include these constructs and relationships will extend the field of breastfeeding research. Breastfeeding intervention could also be strengthened with more recognition of the life course factors that represent understudied, and thus underutilized, levers for intervention. Conclusion: Given its focus on personal history in a larger historical and ecological context, life course theory is well suited to framing discussions around the causes and consequences of breastfeeding.