Chapter 1-2 Continued... Flashcards
how intensely and quickly an individual responds to emotional stimuli. Emotional reactivity and expression are how infants and young children first communicate, and they are critical to early relationships with caregivers.
Emotion Reactivity
the ability to manage and modulate one’s own emotional responses. The ability to regulate emotions is a crucial aspect of early relationships with caregivers. Poor self-regulation is also mentioned as a risk factor.
Emotion Regulation
This is the study of how behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way genes work. Provides a means through which environmental influences can impact the body.
- Changes in gene expression can result from alterations in gene structure linked to environmental influences.
Epigenetics
This concept describes how similar outcomes may stem from different early experiences and developmental pathways. In other words, different beginnings can lead to the same result.
Equifinality
refers to the study of the causes of childhood disorders. This involves considering how biological, psychological, and environmental processes interact to produce observed outcomes over time.
Etiology
The sources discuss how family systems, including family patterns, marital discord, and family legal problems, can be major social contributors to child mental health concerns. Family adversity such as harsh or abusive parenting, neglect, and parental rejection are also considered risk factors.
Family Systems
- Sex differences in behavioral concerns are negligible in children under the age of 3, but increase with age. Males show higher rates of early-onset disorders involving neurodevelopmental impairments, whereas females show more emotional disorders, with a peak onset in adolescence.
- For instance, males generally have higher rates of autism spectrum disorders and ADHD, while females have higher rates of depression and eating disorders. Gender norms also influence adults’ definitions of problem behaviors in boys and girls.
Gender Differences in Disorders:
The sources trace the evolution of views on child psychopathology, noting that before the 1700s, children’s mental health concerns were seldom mentioned. Early views attributed unusual behaviors to uncivilized nature or demonic possession. Key figures include John Locke, who advocated for humane treatment of children, Jean Marc Itard, who made the first documented effort to work with a special needs child, Leta Hollingworth, who argued that many children suffered from emotional and behavioral issues due to inept treatment, Benjamin Rush, who argued children were incapable of adult-like insanity, and Dorothea Dix, who established humane mental hospitals for troubled youths. The influence of these individuals and their ideas led to the view that children needed moral guidance and support, which increased concern for moral and compulsory education, as well as improved health practices. The mental hygiene movement marked a shift towards seeing psychopathology as a disease.
History of Mental Health Views and Key Historical Figures:
The HPA axis is mentioned in the context of biological risk factors and is related to abnormal stress regulation.
Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis (HPA axis)
Internalizing problems include anxiety, depression, somatic symptoms, and withdrawn behavior. Externalizing problems include more acting-out behaviors such as aggression and delinquent behavior.
Internalizing and Externalizing Problems
The medical model views psychopathology as a form of disease with biological causes. It has historically influenced diagnostic approaches but is limited because it locates the disorder “in” the child and ignores the environment.
Medical Model
Molecular genetics is listed as a type of biological risk factor that includes hereditary influences.
Molecular Genetics
This concept explains how various outcomes may stem from similar beginnings. It is the idea that the same starting point can lead to different results.
Multifinality
resulting from a combination of factors
- This is one of the assumptions of developmental psychopathology, meaning that child psychopathology is caused by many interacting factors and not just one single cause.
Multiply Determined:
Though not explicitly defined, the sources reference the concept that adverse childhood experiences can negatively affect brain development.
Neural Plasticity and Development:
While the sources do not specifically name particular neurotransmitters, they do mention neurotransmitter imbalances as a possible biological determinant of childhood disorders.
Neurotransmitters Implicated in Psychological Disorders:
This is a learning theory that involves voluntary, goal-directed behaviors. It uses reinforcement and punishment to shape behavior. Behavior therapy uses operant conditioning techniques to modify undesirable behaviors and shape adaptive skills.
Operant Conditioning:
The sources indicate that development is characterized by continuous change and reorganization, making it challenging to define deviance in children.
- Development is also considered an active and dynamic process.
Organization of Development:
These are personal or situational variables that reduce the chances of a child developing a disorder.
… can include individual strengths, family support, and community resources. They are seen as processes rather than absolutes.
Protective Factors:
The brain reduces the number of connections in a way that gradually shapes and differentiates important brain functions
Pruning:
This theory emphasizes that personality and mental health outcomes have roots in early childhood experiences. It focuses on the interaction of developmental and situational processes that change over time. Anna Freud noted how children’s symptoms are related more to developmental stages than adults.
Psychoanalytic Theory:
is the process and outcome of effectively adapting to challenging life experiences, not a fixed attribute of a child. It varies depending on the type of stress, context, and other factors. It involves individual strengths, family resources, and community support
Resilience:
These are variables that precede a negative outcome and increase the chances that the outcome will occur. There are three main types (next set of cards…)
Risk Factors and Three Types: Biological, Dispositional/Psychological and Social/Ecological
These include hereditary influences, prenatal factors, abnormalities in brain structure and function, and perinatal insults
Biological Risk Factors:
