Developmental psychopathology

Developmental psychopathology is the study of the development of psychological disorders, such as psychopathy, autism, schizophrenia and depression, with a lifecourse perspective.

Developmental psychopathology is a sub-field of developmental psychology characterized by the following (non-comprehensive) list of assumptions:

1. Atypical development and typical development are mutually informative. Therefore, developmental psychopathology is not the study of pathological development, but the study of the basic mechanisms that cause developmental pathways to diverge toward pathological or typical outcomes;
2. Development leads to either adaptive or maladaptive outcomes. However, development that is adaptive in one context may be maladaptive in another context;
3. Developmental change is influenced by many variables. Research designs in developmental psychopathology should incorporate multivariate designs to examine the mechanisms underlying development;
4. Development occurs within nested contexts (see Urie Bronfenbrenner);
5. This field requires that development arises from a dynamic interplay of physiological, genetic, social, cognitive, emotional, and cultural influences across time.

Development of Conduct Problems

One form of developmental pathology is conduct disorder. Conduct disorder grows progressively worse over time and behavior considered annoying as a child is considered pathological as the child gets older. The Oregon social learning group has done considerable research on the development of conduct disorder ^[1] Patterson and colleagues take a functionalist view of conduct problems in line with a Behavior analysis of child development. They have found considerable evidence that the improper use of reinforcment in childhood can lead to this form of pathology ^[2]

References

1. ^ Patterson (2002) Etiology and Treatment of Child and Adolescent Antisocial Behavior. The Behavior Analyst Today, 3 (2), 133- 155. [1]
2. ^ James Snyder, Mike Stoolmiller, Gerald R. Patterson, Lynn Schrepferman, Jessica Oeser, Kassy Johnson, and Dana Soetaert (2003): The Application of Response Allocation Matching to Understanding Risk Mechanisms in Development: The Case of Young Children’s Deviant Talk and Play, and Risk for Early-Onset Antisocial Behavior. The Behavior Analyst Today, 4 (4), 435-452 BAO

See also

• Child psychopathology
• Psychopathology
• Child Development for behavioral models of antisocial behavior

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