Chapter 1: Developmental Perspective Flashcards
Study Guide For Exam 1
What is the developmental psychopathology Perspective?
- Emphasizes sensitivity to developmental issues and appropriateness for behavior at the given stage of development. i.e. is it ok for a 2yo to pee the bed vs. an 8yo?
- Behavior is based on the predispositions of a subject and the influences of his/her environment. B = f(SxO)
What are the factors complicating the study of child psychopathology?
Disorders Conceptualization Context Presentation Models
Dogs, Cats Can Play Micely
- Many childhood problems complex and most forms of psychopathology in children are known to overlap and/or coexist with other disorders
- Issues concerning the conceptualization and definition of psychopathology in children continue to be vigorously debated
- In studies conducted with children, much of our knowledge is based on findings obtained at a single point in a child’s development and in a single context.
- There are key differences in the presentation of the disorder across development
- Most etiological models and treatment approaches have yet to be substantiated or even adequately tested
What is the importance of studying child psychopathology?
Ramifications Growth Risk Untreated Criminal/Mental Associated
Real G’s Risk Unemployment Criminal Activity
- To better understand the ramifications of early maladaptive behaviors.
- Many children do not grow out of their childhood difficulties, although these difficulties are expressed in different dynamic ways over time. Even when diagnosable psychopathology is not evident at later ages, a child’s failure to adjust during earlier developmental periods may still have a lasting negative impact on later family, occupational, and social adjustment.
- Social changes and conditions may place children at increased risk for developing disorders, and also for the development of more severe problems at younger ages
- For a majority of children who experience mental health problems, these problems go untreated. It was reported that out of children identified as needing mental health services, only about 20% received such assistance.
- Most children with mental health problems who go unidentified and unassisted often end up in the criminal justice or mental health systems as young adults
- A significant number of children in North America experience maltreatment, and chronic maltreatment during childhood is associated with psychopathology in children and later in adults
What are the major epidemiological issues in developmental psychopathology?
Age SES Sex Rural Ethnicity
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- Age Differences – it was found that the highest prevalence of disorders was found in children ages 9-10 and gradually falling through age 12 and then rising again throughout the adolescent years.
- SES – Although most treated children for mental health problems are from the middle class, mental health problems are overrepresented among the very poor. Lower-SES children have been reported to display more psychopathology than upper-SES children.
- Sex Differences – Many studies have excluded girls from their samples or have failed to examine relevant differences between the two sexes. Research confirmed that there are important differences in the prevalence expression, accompanying disorders, underlying processes, outcomes, and developmental course of psychopathology in boys vs. girls. Boys have more externalizing symptoms, girls more internalizing symptoms.
- Rural vs. Urban Differences – there is a general belief that childhood disorders are higher in urban areas. However, research findings in support of this view are weak and inconsistent.
- Ethnicity & Culture – Ethnic representation in research studies and the study of ethnicity-related issues more generally have received less attention in studies of child psychopathology
What constitutes psychopathology vs. normality?
Normal behavior is based on the developmental stage at the given age. A child’s condition is viewed as a disorder only if 1) it causes harm or deprivation of benefits to the child and 2) it results from the failure of some internal mechanism to perform its natural function.
Define developmental continuity.
When chronic conditions like an intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder persist throughout childhood and into adulthood. View of development is a continuous process that is gradual and cumulative. e.g. Learning how to crawl to learning how to walk.
Define developmental discontinuity.
View of development that believes people pass through stages of life that are qualitatively different from each other. e.g. children go from only being able to think in very literal terms to being able to think abstractly.
Define the developmental pathways: equifinality & multifinality.
Equifinality - multiple routes may lead to a common condition.
Multifinality - a single trauma or episode can cause multiple pathologies.
Define risk and resilience.
Resilience - refers to the successful adaptation in children who experience significant adversity. Resilience is used to describe children who (1) manage to avoid negative outcomes and/or to achieve positive outcomes despite being at significant risk for the development of psychopathology; (2) display sustained competence under stress; or (3) show recovery from trauma
Risk - usually defined in terms of child characteristics that are associated with negative outcomes. e.g. difficult temperament, exposure to extreme or disadvantaged environmental conditions (e.g., poverty or abuse).
Children who are predisposed to develop psychopathology and show a susceptibility to negative developmental outcomes under high-risk conditions are referred to as “vulnerable”
Define protective and vulnerability factors.
Protective factors include an “easy” temperament, early coping skills, high intelligence, effective communication and problem-solving skills, genetic factors, positive self-esteem and emotions
Vulnerability factors include poverty, poor caregiving, death, homelessness, parental marital conflict, and parent psychopathology
Both influence children’s reaction to potential risk factors or stressors.
What is the role of contextual issues in child developmental psychopathology?
REEVALUATE.
Consideration of child psychopathology must consider and account for three sets of contextual variables: (1) the child AS context - the idea that unique child characteristics, predispositions, and traits influence the course of development; (2) the child OF context - the notion that the child comes from a background of interrelated family, peer, classroom, teacher, school, community, and cultural influences; and (3) the child IN context - the understanding that the child is a dynamic and rapidly changing entity, and that descriptions taken at different points in time or in different situations may yield very different information.
Define the dimensional approach.
Dimensional Approach– assumes that a number of relatively independent dimensions or traits of behavior exists and all children possess these to varying degrees. These traits or dimensions are typically derived through the use of multivariate statistical methods, such as factor analysis or cluster analyses.
Issues: complexity and the dependency of the derived dimensions on sampling
Define the categorical approach.
Categorical Approach – cluster of symptoms based off DSM-V
-Categorical approaches to the classification of childhood disorders have included systems developed by the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, the WHO, the APA, and the Zero to Three/ National Center for Clinical Infant Programs.
Issues: There has been a need for more reliable classification schemas for childhood disorders and the evolving conceptualization of childhood disorders over the past 60 years.
What are the theories of child psychopathology?
Attachment Theory Cognitive Theory Cognitive-Behavioral Theory Emotion Theory Genetic/Neurobiological Theories
What is attachment theory?
Bowlby’s attachment theory has played an important role in focusing attention on the quality of parent–child relationships, the interaction between security in relationships and the growth of independence, the importance of placing emergent human relationships within a biological/evolutionary context the concept of internal working models, and insecure early attachments as the basis for the development of psychopathology
