The state-of-the-art research in this volume is based on complex, multidimensional conceptions of poverty. Current research goes beyond description to emphasize analysis of processes by which effects occur and variations in effects associated with race, gender, and ethnicity. Child care, school, neighborhood, and community are studied as well as family contexts. The child outcomes investigated include both intellectual development and socioemotional functioning. It is multidisciplinary, using a broad range of analytic frameworks and research methods from economics, sociology, health, psychology, and other disciplines. In this introduction, the overall research trends are described, and new questions for future research are identified.