Hoorcollege 1 - DP fundamentals 1
Developmental psychopathology the study of normal development (in children and
adolescents) that “has gone awry”. It is this abnormal development (i.e., “gone awry”) that
lead to psychopathological problems in children and adolescents. In other words, problem
behaviors for both the youth and his/her environment.
Defining and identifying
Abnormal behavior:
- Not just atypical but can also be harmful
- Developmentally inappropriate
- Need to consider a variety of variables:
Age
Situation/context
Gender
Culture (ethnicity or race)
- Parents and professionals may differ on their views of a child and what is considered
inappropriate.
- Society has changing views of abnormality.
Developmental psychopathology perspective
Abnormal development is multiply determined:
- Must look beyond current symptoms
- Consider developmental pathways and interacting events
Children and environments are interdependent – transactional view:
- Both children and the environment as active contributors to adaptive and
maladaptive behavior
Abnormal development involves continuities and discontinuities:
Continuity developmental changes are gradual and quantitative; predictive of
future behavior patterns
Discontinuity developmental changes are abrupt and qualitative; not predictive of
future behavior patterns
Changes: typical and atypical
Approximate Normal achievements Common behavior Clinical disorders
age (years) problems
0-2 Eating, sleeping, Stubbornness, temper, Mental retardation, feeding
attachment toileting difficulties disorders, autistic disorder
2-5 Language, toileting, self- Arguing, demanding Speech and language
care skills, self-control, attention, disorders, problems stemming
peer relationships disobedience, fears, from child abuse and neglect,
overactivity, resisting some anxiety disorders, such
bedtime as phobias
6-11 Academic skills and rules, Arguing, inability to ADHD, learning disorders,
rule-governed games, concentrate, self- school refusal behavior,
simple responsibilities consciousness, showing conduct problems
off
12-20 Relations with opposite Arguing, bragging, Anorexia, bulimia,
sex, personal identity, anger outbursts, risk- delinquency, suicide attempts,
, separation from family, taking drug and alcohol abuse,
increased responsibilities schizophrenia, depression
Development tasks
Infancy to - Attachment to caregiver(s)
preschool - Language
- Differentiation of self from environment
Middle - Self-control and compliance
childhood - School adjustment (attendance, appropriate conduct)
- Academic achievement (e.g. learning to read, do arithmetic)
- Getting along with peers (acceptance, making friends)
- Rule-governed conduct (following rules of society for moral behavior and
prosocial conduct)
Adolescence - Successful transition to secondary schooling
- Academic achievement (learning skills needed for higher education or work)
- Involvement in extracurricular activities (e.g. athletics, clubs)
- Forming close friendships within and across gender
- Forming a cohesive sense of self-identity
Behavioral indicators of abnormal behavior:
- Developmental delay
- Developmental regression or deterioration
- Extremely high or low frequency of behavior
- Extremely high or low intensity of behavior
- Behavioral difficulty persists over time
- Behavior inappropriate to the situation
- Abrupt changes in behavior
- Several problem behaviors
- Behavior qualitatively different from normal
Factors involved in judgments of (ab)normality ---------------------->
How common are problems?
5.4% to 35.5% of youth aged 4-18 have problems, 15-20% have
“clinic levels” of disorder symptomology
According to the APA:
- 10% of youth have serious problems
- 10% have mild or moderate problems
Infants and toddlers are also at risk.
Variability in rates due to:
- Different estimation methods
- Different populations
- Different definitions of psychopathology
Many do not receive help (making it harder to estimate).
Impact of developmental level
Some evidence that disorders have a particular age of
onset, sometimes onset is insidious.
Impact of gender
Gender can impact:
, - Timing (first occurrence)
- Severity
- Expression (“expected behaviors”)
However, concerns about gender bias exist.
Historical influences
Early explanations of psychopathology:
- Adult-focused
- Demonology (“Possession”)
- Somatogenesis (“Bodily imbalances”)
- Strong focus on a single cause
Nineteenth century:
- Classification – Kraepelin
- Some childhood disorders identified
Mental retardation received attention
- Progress made on conceptualization of etiology
Historical influential theories
Sigmund Freud & Psychoanalytic Theory: His psychosexual theory of development was one
of the first developmental stage theories
Behaviorism: Behavior is learned - caused by interactions with the environment (e.g.,
Skinner)
Social Learning Theory: Learned behavior also comes from observations of one’s
environment (e.g., Bandura) (cognitive model)
Perspective and theory
Perspective view, approach, cognitive set
Paradigm perspective shared by investigators:
- Assumptions and concepts
- Methods for evaluation
Theories of psychopathology: micro and macro
Models
Interactional variables interrelate to produce an outcome (e.g. vulnerability stress model)
Transactional/systems ongoing, reciprocal transactions of environment and person (e.g.
Gottlieb’s biopsychosocial model). Environment variables can be close (“proximal”) or
distant (“distal”)
Developmental psychopathology study
DPP studies the origins and developmental course of
disordered behavior, DPP also studies adaptation and
success. DPP is the integration of various theories.
Causal factors
Direct cause variable X leads straight to outcome
Indirect variable X influences other variables that in turn lead to outcome
, Mediating factors explain the relationship between
variables
Moderating factors presence or absence of a factor
influences the relationship between variables
Types of causal factors
Necessary cause must be present for disorder to occur
Sufficient cause can be responsible alone
Contributing cause not always necessary nor sufficient
for cause itself
Continuity of DPP symptomology
Homotypic continuity stable expression of symptoms
Heterotypic continuity symptom expression changes with
development
Cumulative continuity child in an environment that
perpetuates maladaptive style
Risk factors
- Constitutional (genetic & health)
- Family
Pathways to development
- Peers
- Emotional and interpersonal
- Intellectual and academic
- Ecological (e.g. criminal living environment)
- Non-normative life events (e.g. outbreak of war)
The more risks, the poorer the outcome; timing of risk
important; risk for onset may differ from risk for
persistence; risk can accumulate over time; some risk is
tied to specific outcomes.
Resilience Pathways to DPP symptomology
Resilience can be a cause for positive outcome in the
face of risk. Trio of protective factors:
1. Individual (e.g. self-efficacy and self-control)
2. Family (e.g. support and authoritative parenting)
3. Extrafamilial (e.g. peers, bonds to positive adult role models)
Resilience can occur with one protective factor or may require more,
resilience can occur in one domain (e.g. emotion) and not another
(e.g. academic), resilience can be linked to neurobiology (e.g. a child’s
temperament).
Temperament
Temperament is a person’s basic disposition or behavioral tendencies.
Temperament can be observed in newborns and seems to be quite
stable over lifespan. Three temperament types (Chess & Thomas): Characteristics of those who display
resilience
- Easy (can be a resilience factor)
