Week 2

Question 1

Developmental Psychopathology Specific principles

(Kerig, et al., 2012, pp. 17-2

Answer 1

»Guided by an organisational perspective
»The continuum between normal and abnormal development
»Developmental pathways
»Transactions
»Resilience framework

Question 2

Kerig’s Specific principles Organisational perspective

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

Specific principles

Continuum between normal and abnormal development

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Developmental pathways

Answer 4

»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

Question 5

Example of equifinality

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Example of multifinality

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Example of multicausality

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Transactions

Answer 8

development is a result of the complex interplay between the child and the environment over time

Question 9

resilience framework

Answer 9

»Resilience 
»Risk factors
»Promotive factors
»Protective factors
»Protective mechanisms

Question 10

Resilience

Answer 10

Resilience: a pattern of positive adaptation in the context of past or present adversity, Resilire = recoil (bounce back)

Question 11

Adversity

Answer 11

Adversity: Environmental conditions that interfere with or threaten the accomplishment of age-appropriate developmental tasks

Question 12

Risk factor

Answer 12

Risk factor:
A measurable characteristic in a group of individuals or their situation that predicts negative outcome on a specific outcome criteria

Question 13

Promotive factors/Assets/Resources/Compensatory fac

tors:

Answer 13

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)

Question 14

Protective factor:

Answer 14

Quality of a person or a context or their interaction that predicts better outcomes, particularly in situations of adversity/high risk

Question 15

protective mechanisms:

Answer 15

processes that account for the protective power of these variables

Question 16

How might development go awry?

Answer 16

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.)

Question 17

Stages of development

Answer 17

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

Question 18

How methods differ

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Cross-sectional studies pros and cons

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Longitudinal pros and cons

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Sequential studies

(Accelerated cross-sectional) pros

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Naturalistic observation cons

Answer 22

Description: Focus on naturally occurring behaviour

Disadvantages
Potential problems of observer bias and participant reactivity

Question 23

Structured Observation

Answer 23

highly structured observation such as recording a behaviour every 15 seconds

Question 24

Correlational Designs

Answer 24

see if two or more variables relate - Correlation does

not mean causality

Question 25

Experimental studies

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Variations in sample size

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Other research methods

Answer 27

Multivariate research
»Moderators and mediators
»Structural equation modelling