Describes how developmental psychopathology differs from related disciplines, including abnormal psychology, psychiatry, clinical child psychology, and developmental psychology. Points out propositions underlying a developmental perspective and discusses implications for research in developmental psychopathology. (Author/RH)

Provides a developmental framework for the classification of psychopathology in children and highlights the contributions that such classifications may have toward the understanding of normal development. Specific attention is given to the concepts of continuity and normality and their implications for the manner in which developmental…

Presents an overview of a developmental structuralist model based on integration of psychoanalytic and Piagetian developmental psychology. Includes discussion of patterns and insights from a clinical-descriptive intervention study of multirisk families and suggests lines for future research. (RH)

Argues that several features of the child's developing physical, psychological, and behavioral character suggest some interventions are efficacious and some are less efficient or counterproductive. Illustrations are drawn from pertinent literature on such topics as systematic desensitization, cognitive-behavioral self-control therapy,…

Suggests that the determinants of individual differences in parental functioning are illuminated by research on the etiology of child maltreatment. Three domains of determinants include parents' personal psychological resources, child characteristics, and contextual sources of stress and support. A process model of competent parental functioning…

Discusses building blocks for a developmental psychopathology, focusing on studies of risk, competence, and protective factors. Describes studies of stress and competence, giving particular attention to methodology and strategies for data analysis. A three-model approach to stress resistance is also presented, and Project Competence is evaluated…

An exploratory study was made of the emotional and social functioning of young children having one manic-depressive parent. Semi-naturalistic observations and experimental manipulations of the affective environment were used to assess two-year-olds' regulation of emotion, as well as their aggression, altruism, and affiliative interactions.…

A total of 113 children were seen at one and six years of age in order to examine the relationship between the quality of the early attachment relationship and later psychopathology. Results from the Achenbach and Edelbrock Child Behavior Profile (a measure of psychopathology at six years) indicated different outcomes for male and female children.…

Examines the continuity of behavioral adjustment from the preschool through elementary and junior high school years. Behavior checklist data were obtained from 541 children, ages 9 through 15, who had participated in a preschool epidemiological study. Analyses focused on the relationship between internalizing and externalizing behavior dimensions…

Examines the effects of social skills training and peer involvement on the peer acceptance of disliked preadolescents. Identified as unaccepted by peers and deficient in conversational skills, 56 fifth- and sixth-grade children were randomly assigned to one of four treatment conditions involving conversational skills training and/or peer…

A reliable measure of children's skills in discriminating intention cues was developed to test the hypothesis that such skills are related to social competence. The instrument was administered to 176 kindergarten, second-grade, and fourth-grade children who were identified as being popular, average, socially rejected, or socially neglected.…

Examines parental, adolescent, and family system characteristics that place a family at risk of destructive parent/child relations during the child's adolescence. Maladjusted youth from 10 through 16 years of age and both of their parents were visited at home by a team of researchers, who administered a battery of questionnaire, interview, and…

Achenbach and Edelbrock Child Behavior Checklist factor scores were compared with ego stage through correlational and multiple regression analyses. Findings indicated significant negative correlations with the externalizing and internalizing factors and with a variety of behavioral subscales. A significant relationship was found between the total…

Describes the Constraining and Enabling Coding System (CECS), a scheme enabling identification of family interactions conceptually relevant to adolescent ego development. Results are presented of applications involving 61 families (each consisting of two parents and an adolescent) drawn from matched high school and psychiatric populations.…

Researchers employing a mirror procedure tested 52 autistic children between 3 and 13 years of age. A total of 36 showed evidence of self-recognition, while 16 gave no clear indications of doing so. Those not recognizing themselves were more likely than those who did to be mute or lacking in communicative speech. (Author/RH)