Week 2 Flashcards
Developmental Psychopathology Specific principles
(Kerig, et al., 2012, pp. 17-2
»Guided by an organisational perspective »The continuum between normal and abnormal development »Developmental pathways »Transactions »Resilience framework
Kerig’s Specific principles Organisational perspective
Integrative: domains of development (social, cognitive, emotional, biological) are in interaction with one another
»Hierarchical: psychological growth is a process of increasing complexity and organisation
»Stage-salient issues: need to attend to tasks/issues relevant at each stage and whether they are resolved in adaptive or maladaptive ways (consistent with Freud and Erikson)
Consequences of stage-salient resolutions are probabilistic not deterministic. Won’t determine chil’d fate.
Specific principles
Continuum between normal and abnormal development
Psychological problems are not a consequence of disease processes within the individual, rather as significant deviations from a healthy developmental path.
e.g. being involved in adolescent deviancy might be contained to that adolescent phase.
»Need to understand normal/typical developmental processes to understand how development might go awry
Developmental pathways
»Focus on trajectories or pathways
»Sometimes pathways cross to produce comorbidity:
co-occurrence of two or more psychopathologies
(developmental course = progression of disorder once it has developed)
Equifinality: a number of different pathways may lead to the same outcome (equal final outcome)
Mulitfinality: a particular risk may lead to multiple outcomes (multiple final outcomes)
Multideterminism (multicausality):
the aetiology of any psychopathology has multiple causes
Example of equifinality
Learning Disorder. pressure at home, romantic breakup, depression => adolescent alcohol abuse
Child of single parent with substance abuse. little supervision, impulsive, out of control. =>adolescent alcohol abuse
Example of multifinality
two individuals experience physical/sexual abuse, neglect, foster care placement. => one succeeds in school, stable relationships
=> the other has multiple placement failures, school drop out, runaway, substance abuse, delinquency
Example of multicausality
conduct disorder => parent’s find it difficult to parent them, so the child behaves worse (viscious cycle)
learning disorder = also contributes to the conduct disorder.
Cognitive distortions on top, or prenatal alcohol exposure, or peer group.
Everything is interconnected and all causes the other things
Transactions
development is a result of the complex interplay between the child and the environment over time
resilience framework
»Resilience »Risk factors »Promotive factors »Protective factors »Protective mechanisms
Resilience
Resilience: a pattern of positive adaptation in the context of past or present adversity, Resilire = recoil (bounce back)
Adversity
Adversity: Environmental conditions that interfere with or threaten the accomplishment of age-appropriate developmental tasks
Risk factor
Risk factor:
A measurable characteristic in a group of individuals or their situation that predicts negative outcome on a specific outcome criteria
Promotive factors/Assets/Resources/Compensatory fac
tors:
A measurable characteristic in a group of individuals or their situation that predicts general or specific positive outcomes (good for everybody regardless of their circumstances)
Protective factor:
Quality of a person or a context or their interaction that predicts better outcomes, particularly in situations of adversity/high risk
protective mechanisms:
processes that account for the protective power of these variables
How might development go awry?
Several ways in which psychopathology might relate
to stages of development:
»Developmental delay: development proceeds at a pace
significantly slower than normal
»Regression: return to developmentally early forms of
behaviour (older child might suck their thumb, 8 year old doesn’t speak or selective mutism)
»Asynchrony: uneven rates of development across domains
»Precocity: accelerated rates of development (adolescent taking on adult roles ie sexual behaviour)
»Developmental deviation: qualitatively different from normal (not just occuring at a different time, it’s inappropriate at any stage e.g. echalalia or repeating all words.)
» Adaptational failure: relates to the goodness of fit; and child’s inability to adapt to the demands of the environment. (e.g. a child who likes structure and routine in a chaotic household) (or a child with low verbal abilities for their age and is attending a normal school. If the environment is changed to a supportive school, they are likley to adjust to the env better.)
Stages of development
Transition between stages is a time of increased risk
(e.g.primary school to high school is a normative transition, parental divorce is a non-normative transition). Times when non normative events occur interact with the other normal ones.
»Stage of development at which life events/crises occur is relevant for understanding impact of the event/crisis
»Earlier perspectives emphasises critical periods; current
perspectives emphasise sensitive period
How methods differ
Variation in time-frame
»Cross-sectional
»Longitudinal
»Sequential
Variation in control »Naturalistic & Structured Observation »Correlation »Quasi-experimental »Experimental
Variation in sampling
»Surveys
»Interviews
»Case studies
Cross-sectional studies pros and cons
Description:
compare different people of different ages or age groups at one point in time
Advantages/Strengths
age-related trends
»Convenient, short time-frame, less costly than longitudinal studies
Disadvantages/Weaknesses
»May not show real developmental changes
»cohort effects
Longitudinal pros and cons
Description: Compare the same people over time
Advantages
»reveal more developmental changes than cross-sectional studies
»Enables researchers to look at sequences of change and individual consistency and inconsistency over time
Disadvantages
»expensive and time-consuming
»Selective attrition
»Practise effects
Sequential studies
(Accelerated cross-sectional) pros
Description: Combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal designs; at least 2 cohorts followed over time
Advantages/Strengths
»Within- and between-cohort comparisons are made
»Measure actual developmental change AND allow for historical differences between cohort
Naturalistic observation cons
Description: Focus on naturally occurring behaviour
Disadvantages
Potential problems of observer bias and participant reactivity
Structured Observation
highly structured observation such as recording a behaviour every 15 seconds
Correlational Designs
see if two or more variables relate - Correlation does
not mean causality
Experimental studies
Description: Controlled situation varying one or two factors
Advantages
Can draw conclusions about cause and effect relationships
Disadvantages
Results may be artificial
Ethical constraints means that quasi-experimental studies often
Variations in sample size
Surveys
»Focused questions, many respondents
»Cannot explore subtlety of responses
Interviews
»Gather more in-depth information
»Time-consuming
Case studies
»Focus on one or a few individuals
»Variety of data sources
Other research methods
Multivariate research
»Moderators and mediators
»Structural equation modelling
