Tenets of Developmental Psychopathology Must understand behavior in context Children actively shape their environments Organizational perspective Continuity across time will manifest as coherence of patterns, not continuity in specific behaviors Risk factors –Distinguished from vulnerability factors protective factors Resilience Interest in individual differences

Developmental pathways, I Lewis Chapter in book –Trait models and their limitations –Environmental models and their limitations –Interactional Models Describes 2: Type 1 in which person and environment remain unchanged by interaction, and Type 2 in which person and environment are ‘transformed’ by interaction –Goodness-Of-Fit model is a Type 1 model –Transactional Model (or Transformational Models)

Continuity Across Development Why should be there be continuity from early childhood disruption to later adjustment problems? –Process mechanisms can be specified –E.g., attachment, chains of stresses, physiological, genetic

Evidence for Continuity, I More continuityLess contintuity Follow-backFollow-up Clinic attendersGeneral population Externalizing dis.Internalizing disorder Global maladjust-Specific diagnostic mentcriteria

Evidence for Continuity, II Stronger evidence for indirect than for direct effects of early experience on later adjustment across time Moderating effects can play a role in determining long term impact –E.g., gender Example: continuity of depression

Developmental Tasks, I Can Disorders Be Conceptualized as Failures at Developmental Tasks? 0-3months –Infants prewired to engage the world –Show initial self-regulation abilities (predisposed to elicit caregivers’ soothing/regulating responses)

Developmental Tasks II 0-3 mos: –Infants selectively responsive to certain touch, high pitched voice, certain visual displays –Begin to develop small motor routines –3 mos-- begin to ‘make interesting spectacles last’ –3 most-- infants begin social smile, vocalizing responses (cooing), more eye contact –Can baby accept soothing? –Does baby appropriately engage the world?

Developmental Tasks III 2-7 months-- building capacity for selective attachments –Laughter, increased capacity to engage the caretakers –6 mos, begins to enjoy familiar people more than others –Can infant begin to ‘read’ cues from caregivers? –Does infant respond with range of emotion?

Developmental Tasks IV 7-10 months: –Differentiation of somatic vs. emotional states –Increased differentiation and intensity of emotions –Stranger anxiety mos * –Means-end associations more clear –Does baby learn to respond appropriately when upset, to get its needs met?

Developmental Tasks, 9-24 Mos  Imitation  Emergence of attachment  Stringing together of related behaviors  Capacity for self-control, delay of gratification  Use of distal communication  Disorders: lack of imitation, inability to form attachment (or other emotional/behavioral system), limited intentionality

Developmental Tasks, Mos Capacity for Mental Representations Language Development Representing ‘maternal object’ ‘Transitional Object’ Object and person constancy Increasing organization of representations Problems: Unable to, or partially able to, form mental representations

Developmental Tasks, Mos  Increased language development  Increased means-end representations, cause and effect linking of representations  Increasing complexity of categorization  Personal responsibility (‘causal’ self)  Affect and behavior better connected  Improved capacity for self-regulation  Problems: deficits in cause-effect reasoning, confusion of self with other, including needs, feelings; impulse control problems