Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T18:03:38.676Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Considering normal and abnormal together: The essence of developmental psychopathology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2008

L. Alan Sroufe
L. Alan Sroufe*
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
*
Address reprint requests to: L. Alan Sroufe, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, 51 East River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55455.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

When psychopathology is defined as developmental deviation, its study necessarily involves a wedding of research on the normal and the pathological. In such an endeavor, understanding of normal processes is enhanced, because critical normative issues can only be defined in terms of their implications when development goes awry and because disordered behavior often brings into sharp relief the nature of basic developmental phenomena. At the same time, such work is critical to defining general principles of development, which apply to normal and abnormal alike. In this article, examples are provided of the reciprocally enhancing nature of studies of normal and pathological development and of the fruitfulness of weaving back and forth between studies of normality and disturbance for understanding important aspects of development. Examples include a discussion of attachment and dependency and the origins of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. It is concluded that developmental psychopathology may make its greatest contribution in the endeavor to understand development of individuals.

Type
Research Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , October 1990 , pp. 335 - 347
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ainsworth, M., Blehar, M., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Asher, S., & Wheeler, V. A. (1985). Children's loneliness: A comparison of rejected and neglected peer states. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53, 500–505.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bower, T. G. R. (1974). Development in infancy. San Francisco: Freeman.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1944). Forty-four juvenile thieves: Their characteristics and home life. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 39, 350–373.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1973). Separation. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Brazelton, T. B., Koslowski, B., & Main, M. (1974). The origins of reciprocity: The early mother-infant interaction. In Lewis, M. & Rosenblum, L. (Eds.), The effect of the infant on its caregiver. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Brown, G., Harris, T., & Bifulco, A. (1986). Longterm effects of early loss of parent. In Rutter, M., Izard, C., & Read, P. (Eds.), Depression in young people (pp. 251–296). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Beeghly, M. (1990). Children with Down syndrome: A developmental perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Carlson, V. (1989). Child maltreatment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cicchetti, D., & Sroufe, L. A. (1978). An organizational view of affect: Illustration from the study of Down's syndrome infants. In Lewis, M. & Rosenblum, L. (Eds.), The development of affect (pp. 309–350). New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, M. L., Cheyne, J. A., Cunningham, C. E., & Siegel, L. S. (1988). Dyadic peer interaction and task orientation in Attention-Deficit-Disordered children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 16, 1–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coquery, J., & Lacey, J. (1966). The effect of foreperiod duration on the components of the cardiac response during the foreperiod of a reaction-time task. Paper presented at the Society for Psychophysiological Research, Denver, CO.Google Scholar
Cunningham, C. E., Siegel, L. S., & Offord, D. R. (1985). A developmental dose-response analysis of the effects of methylphenidate on the peer interactions of attention deficit disordered boys. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 26, 955–971.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dodge, K. A., & Frame, C. L. (1982). Social cognitive biases and deficits in aggressive boys. Child Development, 53, 620–635.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Egeland, B., & Farber, E. (1984). Infant–mother attachment: Factors related to its development and changes over time. Child Development, 55, 753–771.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elicker, J., Englund, B., & Sroufe, L. A. (in press). Predicting peer competence and peer relationships in childhood from early parent-child relationships. In Parke, R. & Ladd, G. (Eds.), Family–peer relationships: Modes of linkage. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Fairbanks, L. (1989). Early experience and cross-generational continuity of mother–infant contact in Vervet monkeys. Developmental Psychobiology, 22, 669–681.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gewirtz, J. (1972). Attachment and dependency. Washington, DC: Winston.Google Scholar
Gunnar, M., &.Stone, C. (1984). The effects of positive maternal affect on infant responses to pleasant, ambiguous, and fear-provoking toys. Child Development, 55, 1231–1236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hruska, K., & Yonas, A. (1971). Developmental changes in cardiac responses to the optical stimulus of impending collision. Paper presented at the Meetings for Psychophysiological Research, St. Louis, MO.Google Scholar
Jacobvitz, D. (1988). The early caregiver–child relationship and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in school children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Jacobvitz, D., & Sroufe, L. A. (1987). The early caregiver–child relationship and attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity in kindergarten: A prospective study. Child Development, 58, 1496–1504.Google ScholarPubMed
Magnuson, D., & Bergman, L. (1990). A pattern approach to the study of pathways from childhood to adulthood. In Robins, L. & Rutter, M. (Eds.), Straight and devious pathways from childhood to adulthood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Main, M., & Hesse, E. (1990). Parents' unresolved traumatic experiences are related to infant disorganized attachment status: Is frightened and/or frightening behavior the linking mechanism? In Greenberg, M., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, E. M. (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years (pp. 161–184). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Mans, L., Cicchetti, D., & Sroufe, L. A. (1978). Mirror reactions of Down's syndrome infants and toddlers: Cognitive underpinnings of self-recognition. Child Development, 49, 1247–1250.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marcus, L. M. (1972). Studies of attention in children vulnerable to psychopathology. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Pancake, V. (1985). Continuity between mother–infant attachment and ongoing dyadic peer relationship in preschool. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Toronto.Google Scholar
Robins, L., & Rutter, M. (1990). Straight and devious pathways from childhood to adulthood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rubin, K., LeMare, L., & Lollis, S. (1990). Social withdrawal in childhood: Developmental pathways to peer rejection. In Asher, S. & Coie, J. (Eds.), Peer rejection in childhood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1985). Infantile autism. In Shaffer, D., Ehrhardt, A., & Greenhill, L. (Eds.), The clinical guide to child psychiatry (pp. 49–78). New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Sorce, J., & Emde, R. (1981). Mother's presence is not enough: The effect of emotional availability on infant exploration and play. Developmental Psychology, 17, 737–745.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sroufe, L. A. (1971). Age changes in cardiac deceleration within a fixed fore-period reaction time task: An index of attention. Developmental Psychology, 5, 338–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sroufe, L. A. (1975). Drug treatment of children. In Horrowitz, F. (Ed.), Review of child development research (Vol. 4). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Sroufe, L. A. (1989a). Pathways to adaptation and maladaptation: Psychopathology as developmental deviation. In Cicchetti, D. (Ed.), Rochester Symposium on Developmental Psychopathology (Vol. 1). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Sroufe, L. A. (1989b). Relationships and relationship disturbances. In Sameroff, A. J. & Emde, R. N. (Eds.), Relationship disturbances in early childhood. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Sroufe, L. A., Egeland, B., & Kreutzer, T. (1990). The fate of early experience following developmental change: Longitudinal approaches to individual adaptation. Child Development.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sroufe, L. A., & Fleeson, J. (1988). The coherence of family relationships. In Hinde, R. A. & Stevenson-Hinde, J. (Eds.), Relationships within families: Mutual influences (pp. 27–47). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sroufe, L. A., Fox, N., & Pancake, V. (1983). Attachment and dependency in developmental perspective. Child Development, 54(6), 1615–1627.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sroufe, L. A., Jacobvitz, J., Mangelsdorf, S., DeAngelo, E., & Ward, M. J. (1985). Generational boundary dissolution between mothers and their preschool children: A relationships systems approach. Child Development, 56, 317–325.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sroufe, L. A., & Morris, D. L. (1973). Respiratorycardiac relationships in children. Psychophysiology, 10, 377–382.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sroufe, L. A., Sonies, B. C., West, W. D., & Wright, F. S. (1973). Anticipatory heart rate deceleration and reaction time in children with and without referral for learning disability. Child Development, 44, 267–273.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sroufe, L. A., Stuecher, H. U., & Stutzer, W. (1973). The functional significance of autistic behaviors for the psychotic child. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 1, 225–240.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sroufe, L. A., & Ward, M. J. (1980). Seductive behavior of mothers of toddlers: Occurrence, correlates, and family origins. Child Development, 51, 1222–1229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sroufe, L. A., & Waters, E. (1976). The ontogenesis of smiling and laughter: A perspective on the organization of development in infancy. Psychological Review, 83, 173–189.Google Scholar
Sroufe, L. A., Waters, E., & Matas, L. (1974). Contextual determinants of infant affective response. In Lewis, M. & Rosenblum, L. (Eds.), Origins of fear. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Stern, D. N. (1974). The goal of structure of mother and infant play. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 13, 402–421.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thorne, B. (1986). Girls and boys together … but mostly apart: Gender arrangements in elementary schools. In Hartup, W. & Rubin, Z. (Eds.), Relationships and development. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Vaughn, B., & Sroufe, L. A. (1979). The temporal relationship between infant heart-rate acceleration and crying in an aversive situation. Child Development, 50, 1203–1214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waddington, C. H. (1957). The strategy of the genes. London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Waters, E., Matas, L., & Sroufe, L. A. (1975). Infants' reactions to an approaching stranger: Description, validation, and functional significance of wariness. Child Development, 46, 348–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiss, G., & Hechtman, L. (1986). Hyperactive children grown up. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Wenar, C. (1990). Developmental psychopathology: From infancy through adolescence (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar