Abstract
This chapter attempts to show why and how the behavioral and social sciences are making major contributions to our understanding and solving the important public health problems confronting us as we enter the new millennium. During the 1st half of the 20th century, the occurrence of many infectious diseases declined in the US, and chronic diseases replaced them as the leading causes of mortality. Most of these chronic diseases appear to be multiply determined and involve lifestyle risk factors that have major behavioral, psychosocial, and sociocultural contributions. Thus, to understand almost all major causes of mortality in the US, it is necessary to study the behavioral, psychosocial, and sociocultural variables that contribute to these deaths. The control over most causes of morbidity and mortality involves the use of behavioral-social sciences interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)