Development and Psychopathology (DEV PSYCHOPATHOL)
This multidisciplinary journal is devoted to the publication of original empirical theoretical and review papers which address the interrelationship of normal and pathological development in adults and children. It is intended to serve and integrate the emerging field of developmental psychopathology which strives to understand patterns of adaptation and maladaptation throughout the lifespan. This journal is of vital interest to psychologists psychiatrists social scientists neuroscientists paediatricians and researchers.
Publications in this journal
Article: Differential susceptibility in longitudinal models of gene-environment interaction for adolescent depressionDevelopment and Psychopathology 01/2012;
Article: Marital conflict, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and allostatic load: Interrelations and associations with the development of children’s externalizing behaviorDevelopment and Psychopathology 01/2011; 23:815-829.
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ABSTRACT: Children with autism are developmentally delayed in following the direction of another person's gaze in social situations. A number of studies have measured reflexive orienting to eye gaze cues using Posner-style laboratory tasks in children with autism. Some studies observe normal patterns of cueing, suggesting that children with autism are alert to the significance of the eyes, whereas other studies reveal an atypical pattern of cueing. We review this contradictive evidence to consider the extent to which sensitivity to gaze is normal, and ask whether apparently normal performance may be a consequence of atypical (nonsocial) mechanisms. Our review concludes by highlighting the importance of adopting a developmental perspective if we are to understand the reasons why people with autism process eye gaze information atypically.Development and Psychopathology 02/2008; 20(1):79-97.
Article: Does adolescent self-esteem predict later life outcomes? A test of the causal role of self-esteem.[show abstract] [hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: This paper examines the relationship between self-esteem in adolescence and later mental health, substance use, and life and relationship outcomes in adulthood. The investigation analyzed data from a birth cohort of approximately 1,000 New Zealand young adults studied to the age of 25. Lower levels of self-esteem at age 15 were associated with greater risks of mental health problems, substance dependence, and lower levels of life and relationship satisfaction at ages 18, 21, and 25. Adjustment for potentially confounding factors reduced the strength of these associations to either moderate or statistically nonsignificant levels. It was concluded that the effects of self-esteem during adolescence on later developmental outcomes were weak, and largely explained by the psychosocial context within which self-esteem develops.Development and Psychopathology 02/2008; 20(1):319-39.
Article: Predicting aggressive behavior in the third year from infant reactivity and regulation as moderated by maternal behavior.[show abstract] [hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: The degree to which infant attention behaviors, together with infant reactivity to frustrating events, predict aggressive behavior at 2.5 years, and the moderating effect of maternal behavior were tested with 64 low-risk mothers and infants. Mothers rated infant negative reactivity at 5 months and aggressive behavior and maternal trait anger at 2.5 years; infant and maternal behaviors were observed at 6 months. Based on hierarchical multiple regressions, infant attention to frustrating events at 6 months positively predicted aggressive behavior, whereas looking away from frustrating events was associated with less aggressive behavior for girls only. High reactivity to limits predicted aggressive behavior only when mothers encouraged infant attention to the frustrating event, suggesting that maternal behavior amplifies developmental pathways associated with infant temperament.Development and Psychopathology 02/2008; 20(1):37-54.
ABSTRACT: This study examines the relation between the longitudinal course of maternal depression during the child's early life and children's psychophysiology and behavior at age 6.5 years. One hundred fifty-nine children of depressed and nondepressed mothers were followed from infancy through age 6.5 years. Growth mixture modeling was used to identify classes of depressed mothers based on the longitudinal course of the mother's depression. School-aged children of chronically depressed mothers were found to have elevated externalizing behavior problems, decreased social competence, reduced frontal brain activation (EEG power), and higher respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity. Children of mothers with decreasing and stable mild depression were found to have increased hyperactivity and attention problems compared to children of nondepressed mothers. Contextual risk factors were found to mediate the relation between maternal depression and child behavioral outcomes.Development and Psychopathology 02/2008; 20(1):55-77.
Article: A model-based cluster analysis approach to adolescent problem behaviors and young adult outcomes.[show abstract] [hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Data from a community-based sample of 1,126 10th- and 11th-grade adolescents were analyzed using a model-based cluster analysis approach to empirically identify heterogeneous adolescent subpopulations from the person-oriented and pattern-oriented perspectives. The model-based cluster analysis is a new clustering procedure to investigate population heterogeneity utilizing finite mixture multivariate normal densities and accordingly to classify subpopulations using more rigorous statistical procedures for the comparison of alternative models. Four cluster groups were identified and labeled multiproblem high-risk, smoking high-risk, normative, and low-risk groups. The multiproblem high risk exhibited a constellation of high levels of problem behaviors, including delinquent and sexual behaviors, multiple illicit substance use, and depressive symptoms at age 16. They had risky temperamental attributes and lower academic functioning and educational expectations at age 15.5 and, subsequently, at age 24 completed fewer years of education, and reported lower levels of physical health and higher levels of continued involvement in substance use and abuse. The smoking high-risk group was also found to be at risk for poorer functioning in young adulthood, compared to the low-risk group. The normative and the low risk groups were, by and large, similar in their adolescent and young adult functioning. The continuity and comorbidity path from middle adolescence to young adulthood may be aided and abetted by chronic as well as episodic substance use by adolescents.Development and Psychopathology 02/2008; 20(1):291-318.
Article: Do maternal attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms exacerbate or ameliorate the negative effect of child attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms on parenting?[show abstract] [hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: The impact of similarity in parent and child characteristics on the quality of parenting is underresearched. The current study examined the interaction between mother and child attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms on parenting. Two hypotheses were tested: the similarity-fit hypothesis, which predicted that parent and child similarity will improve parenting, and the similarity-misfit hypothesis, which predicted the opposite. Study 1 examined the associations between maternal and child ADHD symptoms and child-specific rearing attitudes of 95 mothers with school-aged children. In Study 2 this analysis was extended to more objective observer-rated mother-child interaction and maternal expressed emotion in 192 mothers of preschool children. Child ADHD symptoms were associated with negative maternal comments and maternal ADHD symptoms with negative expressed emotion. In both studies maternal ADHD symptoms appeared to ameliorate the effects of child ADHD symptoms on negative parenting. Parental response to children with high ADHD symptoms was more positive and affectionate when the mother also had high ADHD symptoms. The results support the similarity-fit hypothesis and highlight the importance of considering both child and maternal ADHD symptoms in studies of parenting.Development and Psychopathology 02/2008; 20(1):121-37.
Article: Parental imprisonment: long-lasting effects on boys' internalizing problems through the life course.[show abstract] [hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Qualitative studies suggest that children react to parental imprisonment by developing internalizing as well as externalizing behaviors. However, no previous study has examined the effects of parental imprisonment on children's internalizing problems using standardized instruments, appropriate comparison groups, and long-term follow-up. Using prospective longitudinal data from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, we compared boys separated because of parental imprisonment during their first 10 years of life with four control groups: boys who did not experience separation, boys separated because of hospitalization or death, boys separated for other reasons (usually parental disharmony), and boys whose parents were only imprisoned before the boys' births. Individual, parenting, and family risk factors for internalizing problems were measured when boys were ages 8-11 years. Separation because of parental imprisonment predicted boys' internalizing problems from age 14 to 48, even after controlling for childhood risk factors including parental criminality. Separation because of parental imprisonment also predicted the co-occurrence of internalizing and antisocial problems. These results suggest that parental imprisonment might cause long-lasting internalizing and antisocial problems for children.Development and Psychopathology 02/2008; 20(1):273-90.
Article: Young children's representations of conflict and distress: a longitudinal study of boys and girls with disruptive behavior problems.[show abstract] [hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: We investigated narratives, symbolic play, and emotions in children who varied in severity of disruptive behavior problems. Children's representations of hypothetical situations of conflict and distress were assessed at 4-5 and 7 years. Behavior problems also were assessed then and again at 9 years. Children's aggressive and caring themes differentiated nonproblem children, children whose problems remained or worsened with age, and those whose problems improved over time. Differences in boys and girls whose problems continued sometimes reflected exaggerations of prototypic gender differences seen across the groups. Boys with problems showed more hostile themes (physical aggression and anger), whereas girls with problems showed more caring (prosocial) themes relative to the other groups. Modulated (verbal) aggression, more common in girls than boys, showed developmentally appropriate increases with age. However, this was true only for children without problems and those whose problems improved. We consider how these findings contribute to an understanding the inner worlds of boys and girls who differ in their early developmental trajectories for behavior problems.Development and Psychopathology 02/2008; 20(1):99-119.