In recent years, the role of gender in the development of psychopathology has increasingly attracted the attention of researchers, theoreticians, and other professionals interested in the well-being of children and adolescents. This interest has taken diverse forms, ranging from the examination of sex differences in the prevalence of adjustment difficulties to the exploration of unique etiologies and trajectories in the development of psychopathology for boys versus girls. In this paper we (a) critically examine the current status of available theories, research, and methods related to the study of gender and psychopathology and provide recommendations for future work; (b) identify promising new trends that appear to have utility for enhancing our understanding of the role of gender in the development of adjustment difficulties; and (c) generate conclusions regarding gender and psychopathology by integrating information from past and present work with new ideas about fruitful directions for future inquiry.

In the current paper we present new empirical data and meta-analytic evidence for the role of dopamine-related genes as a susceptibility factor interacting with the rearing environment for better and for worse, that is, increasing children's susceptibility to both the adverse effects of unsupportive environments and the beneficial effects of supportive rearing. In Study 1 we examined the readiness of 91 7-year-old children to donate their money to a charity (UNICEF). We tested whether the association between attachment and donating behavior was moderated by the presence of the dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) 7-repeat allele. The attachment story completion task was used to assess attachment as an index of the quality of the rearing environment. Children with secure attachment representations donated more but only if they had the DRD4 7-repeat allele. In Study 2 we present the results of a meta-analysis of gene–environment studies on children up to 10 years of age involving dopamine-related genes (dopamine receptor D2, DRD4, dopamine transporter). The cumulative negative effects of these “risk genes” and adverse rearing environments have been stressed, but potentially cumulative positive effects of these same genes interacting with positive rearing environments remained largely unnoticed. We examined the associations between negative and positive rearing environments and developmental outcomes as moderated by dopamine-related gene polymorphisms. Children with the less efficient dopamine-related genes did worse in negative environments than the comparisons without the “genetic risk,” but they also profited most from positive environments. Findings are discussed in light of evolutionary theory, and illustrated with some practical implications of differential susceptibility.

The validity of a developmentally based life-stress model of depression was evaluated in 88 clinic-referred youngsters. The model focused on (a) the role of child–environment transactions, (b) the specificity of stress–psychopathology relations, and (c) the consideration of both episodic and chronic stress. Semistructured diagnostic and life-stress interviews were administered to youngsters and their parents. As predicted, in the total sample child depression was associated with interpersonal episodic and chronic stress, whereas externalizing disorder was associated with noninterpersonal episodic and chronic stress. However, the pattern of results differed somewhat in boys and girls. Youngsters with comorbid depression and externalizing disorder tended to experience the highest stress levels. Support was obtained for a stress-generation model of depression, wherein children precipitate stressful events and circumstances. In fact, stress that was in part dependent on children's contribution distinguished best among diagnostic groups, whereas independent stress had little discriminative power. Results suggest that life-stress research may benefit from the application of transactional models of developmental psychopathology, which consider how children participate in the construction of stressful environments.

The relations of regulation and emotionality to elementary school children's problem behavior was examined. Parents and teachers reported on children's problem behavior. One parent and teachers rated children on various measures of regulation (including resiliency) and emotionality; children's baseline heart rate and facial reactivity were assessed; and physiological and facial distress and gaze aversion while viewing a distress film sequence were measured. In general, low regulation, negative emotionality, and general and positive emotional intensity predicted problem behaviors. Teachers' reports of negative emotionality and regulation interacted in their relation to problem behaviors, with regulation apparently buffering the effects of moderate and high negative emotionality. Baseline heart rate and facial distress were related to low levels of problem behavior, and gaze aversion during the distress film segment was associated with low levels of problem behavior.

Among the adverse mental health consequences of childhood trauma is the risk related to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adulthood. Other risk factors for PTSD, including parental trauma exposure and parental PTSD, can also contribute to the experience of child trauma. We examined associations between childhood trauma and PTSD in 51 adult children of Holocaust survivors and 41 comparison subjects, in consideration of parental trauma exposure and parental PTSD. We also examined these variables in relation to 24-hr urinary cortisol levels. Adult offspring of Holocaust survivors showed significantly higher levels of self-reported childhood trauma, particularly emotional abuse and neglect, relative to comparison subjects. The difference was largely attributable to parental PTSD. Self-reported childhood trauma was also related to severity of PTSD in subjects, and emotional abuse was significantly associated with 24-hr mean urinary cortisol secretion. We conclude that the experience of childhood trauma may be an important factor in the transmission of PTSD from parent to child.

This investigation examined the impact of dimensions within maltreatment such as the severity, frequency, chronicity, and subtypes of maltreatment and their relationship with child outcome. Children between the ages of 5 and 11 who participated in a summer camp program were assessed on their social competence, behavior problems, and peers ratings of cooperation, disruption, and initiation of aggression. The 235 participants were all from low-socioeconomic status families; 145 children were from families with documented histories of child maltreatment, whereas 90 of the children had no record of maltreatment. The study found that severity of the maltreatment, the frequency of Child Protective Services reports, and the interaction between severity and frequency were significant predictors of children's functioning. Additionally, the chronicity of the maltreatment in the family significantly predicted peer ratings of aggression. Subtype differences emerged as well, with children in the sexual abuse group being more socially competent than other maltreated children, and children in the physical abuse group having more behavior problems than nonmaltreated children. Regression analyses with cooccurrence of multiple subtypes of maltreatment indicated that physical neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse made significant unique contributions in predicting child outcomes. The advantages of exploring multiple dimensions within maltreatment, the necessity of developing better operational definitions of these dimensions, and social policy implications of the findings are discussed.

Parental emotions and behaviors that contribute to continuity and change in preschool children's externalizing problems were examined. Mothers and fathers were observed interacting with their children, and child-rearing styles were reported. Teachers, mothers, and children reported children's antisocial, oppositional behavior. Externalizing problems showed strong continuity 2 and 4 years later. Proactive parenting (i.e., supportive presence, clear instruction, and limit setting) predicted fewer behavior problems over time, after controlling for initial problems; the converse was true for parental anger. In contrast, the hypothesized ameliorative contribution of parents' positive emotion was not found. Parental contributions were most influential for children whose initial problems were in the clinical range. In particular, parental anger predicted continuation of problems over time. Paternal, as well as maternal, influences were identified. Examination of parental emotions and inclusion of fathers is important to research and intervention with young antisocial children.

This is a critical review of the literature related to the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia which posits that the illness is related to abnormal brain development. The review focuses on data deriving from clinical studies, and it is organized according to the life phase from which the data were collected: conception and birth, infancy and childhood up to the onset of the illness, after illness onset, and postmortem. The neurodevelopmental hypothesis is supported by several pieces of evidence, including increased frequency of obstetric complications in patients with schizophrenia; the presence of minor physical anomalies; the presence of neurological, cognitive, and behavioral dysfunction long before illness onset; a course and outcome of the illness itself that is incompatible in most cases with a degenerative illness; the stability of brain structural measures over time; and the absence of postmortem evidence of neurodegeneration. A historical perspective on how this research accumulated and a section addressing important areas of future investigation are also provided. We conclude that schizophrenia is certainly not a degenerative brain disorder, and that it is likely that a brain insult in utero or at birth plays a role in its expression. Current evidence cannot completely exclude the role of environmental variables after birth. In addition, it is possible that other psychiatric disorders may also have a neurodevelopmental component.

This report represents the perspective that adolescent substance use is best understood as an adaptation to an ecology defined jointly by families and peers. Hypotheses were tested on a sample of 206 boys in the Oregon Youth Study. The analyses proceeded in four steps. First, it was found that the transition from middle to high school was a period of rapid growth in smoking for boys with a prior history of low sociometric status. Second, a structural equation model was tested showing that deviant peer association in early adolescence mediated the relation between peer and family experiences in middle childhood and later substance use. Third, an observational study of the boys with their best friends revealed that active support for rule breaking and substance use was associated with immediate escalation in substance use during the transition to high school. Finally, it was found that ineffective parental monitoring practices were highly associated with the boy's involvement in a deviant peer network. In fact, a high degree of similarity was found between boys and their best friends for substance use when parental monitoring was low. These analyses show that substance use in adolescence is embedded within the proximal peer environment, which in turn, emerges and is amplified within a context of low adult involvement and monitoring.

Cortisol regulation was investigated in a sample of school-aged maltreated (n = 175) and demographically comparable low-income nonmaltreated (n = 209) children in the context of a day camp research program. Overall group differences between maltreated and nonmaltreated children were not found for average morning or average afternoon cortisol levels. However, significant variations were found that were based on the subtypes of maltreatment that the children had experienced. Maltreated children who had been both physically and sexually abused (as well as neglected or emotionally maltreated) exhibited substantial elevations in morning cortisol levels; children who had high (>1 SD) cortisol levels in both the morning and afternoon were also overrepresented in the multiple abuse group. Developmental timing of maltreatment did not account for these group differences, whereas the severity of sexual abuse was implicated. In contrast to the multiple abuse group, a subgroup of physically abused children showed evidence of a trend toward lower morning cortisol relative to nonmaltreated children with a significantly smaller decrease in cortisol levels from morning to afternoon. The findings are discussed in terms of the diversity of atypical cortisol regulation patterns that are exhibited among maltreated children.

The dynamic nature of resilience necessitates that children from high-risk backgrounds who are functioning adaptively despite experiences of adversity must be examined over time. In the current investigation, the adaptation of school-age maltreated and nonmaltreated socioeconomically disadvantaged children was examined over 3 consecutive years. In accord with predictions, a higher percentage of nonmaltreated children than of maltreated children were found to be resilient. Moreover, a higher percentage of maltreated than of nonmaltreated children were shown to exhibit functioning consistently in the low adaptive range. Differential predictors of resilience were found in maltreated and nonmaltreated children. Specifically, for maltreated children, positive self-esteem, ego resilience, and ego overcontrol predicted resilient functioning, whereas relationship features were more influential for nonmaltreated children. These findings are discussed in relation to the unfolding of resilient self-organizational strivings in maltreated and nonmaltreated children.

Prenatal exposure to maternal stress, anxiety, and depression can have lasting effects on infant development with risk of psychopathology. Although the impact of prenatal maternal distress has been well documented, the potential mechanisms through which maternal psychosocial variables shape development have yet to be fully elucidated. Advances in molecular biology have highlighted the role of epigenetic mechanisms in regulating gene activity, neurobiology, and behavior and the potential role of environmentally induced epigenetic variation in linking early life exposures to long-term biobehavioral outcomes. In this article, we discuss evidence illustrating the association between maternal prenatal distress and both fetal and infant developmental trajectories and the potential role of epigenetic mechanisms in mediating these effects. Postnatal experiences may have a critical moderating influence on prenatal effects, and we review findings illustrating prenatal–postnatal interplay and the developmental and epigenetic consequences of postnatal mother–infant interactions. The in utero environment is regulated by placental function and there is emerging evidence that the placenta is highly susceptible to maternal distress and a target of epigenetic dysregulation. Integrating studies of prenatal exposures, placental function, and postnatal maternal care with the exploration of epigenetic mechanisms may provide novel insights into the pathophysiology induced by maternal distress.

Adopting a motivational perspective on adolescent development, these two companion studies examined the longitudinal relations between early adolescents' school motivation (competence beliefs and values), achievement, emotional functioning (depressive symptoms and anger), and middle school perceptions using both variable- and person-centered analytic techniques. Data were collected from 1041 adolescents and their parents at the beginning of seventh and the end of eighth grade in middle school. Controlling for demographic factors, regression analyses in Study 1 showed reciprocal relations between school motivation and positive emotional functioning over time. Furthermore, adolescents' perceptions of the middle school learning environment (support for competence and autonomy, quality of relationships with teachers) predicted their eighth grade motivation, achievement, and emotional functioning after accounting for demographic and prior adjustment measures. Cluster analyses in Study 2 revealed several different patterns of school functioning and emotional functioning during seventh grade that were stable over 2 years and that were predictably related to adolescents' reports of their middle school environment. Discussion focuses on the developmental significance of schooling for multiple adjustment outcomes during adolescence.

Extraordinary progress in functional brain imaging, primarily advances in functional magnetic resonance imaging, now allows scientists to understand the neural systems serving reading and how these systems differ in dyslexic readers. Scientists now speak of the neural signature of dyslexia, a singular achievement that for the first time has made what was previously a hidden disability, now visible. Paralleling this achievement in understanding the neurobiology of dyslexia, progress in the identification and treatment of dyslexia now offers the hope of identifying children at risk for dyslexia at a very young age and providing evidence-based, effective interventions. Despite these advances, for many dyslexic readers, becoming a skilled, automatic reader remains elusive, in great part because though children with dyslexia can be taught to decode words, teaching children to read fluently and automatically represents the next frontier in research on dyslexia. We suggest that to break through this “fluency” barrier, investigators will need to reexamine the more than 20-year-old central dogma in reading research: the generation of the phonological code from print is modular, that is, automatic and not attention demanding, and not requiring any other cognitive process. Recent findings now present a competing view: other cognitive processes are involved in reading, particularly attentional mechanisms, and that disruption of these attentional mechanisms play a causal role in reading difficulties. Recognition of the role of attentional mechanisms in reading now offer potentially new strategies for interventions in dyslexia. In particular, the use of pharmacotherapeutic agents affecting attentional mechanisms not only may provide a window into the neurochemical mechanisms underlying dyslexia but also may offer a potential adjunct treatment for teaching dyslexic readers to read fluently and automatically. Preliminary studies suggest that agents traditionally used to treat disorders of attention, particularly attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, may prove to be an effective adjunct to improving reading in dyslexic students.

Recent data suggest that a disturbance in the development of joint attention skills is a specific characteristic of young autistic children. This observation may have both theoretical and clinical significance. However, many pertinent issues remain to be addressed with regard to the parameters of joint attention disturbance in children with autism. This study attempted to address several of these issues. The study examines the effects of mental age and IQ on the joint attention skills of children with autism, mental retardation, and normal development. The study also examined the relation of joint attention behaviors to the parent's report of symptoms presented by children with autism. The results suggested that, differences in IQ and mental age may be related to differences in the type of joint attention skill deficits displayed by children with autism. The results also suggested that joint attention disturbance is associated with a circumscribed, but social cluster of symptoms observed among young autistic children by their parents. The implications of these findings for developmental models of autism are discussed.

This paper provides an overview of the largest longitudinal investigation of institutionalized children less than 2 years old ever conducted. The Bucharest Early Intervention Project is an ongoing randomized controlled trial of foster placement as an alternative to institutionalization in abandoned infants and toddlers being conducted in Bucharest, Romania. In addition to describing the contexts in which this study is imbedded, we also provide an overview of the sample, the measures, and the intervention. We hope that the natural experiment of institutionalization will allow us to examine directly the effects of intervention on early deprivation. We hope it will provide answers to many of the critical questions that developmentalists have asked about the effects of early experience, the timing of deprivation, and the ameliorating effects of early intervention and provide clues to which underlying neurobiological processes are compromised by, and resilient to, dramatic changes in early experience.

To examine the effects of infant negative emotionality and of mothering and fathering during the toddler years on 3-year-old boys' externalizing problems and inhibition, as well as explore the proposition that children vary in their susceptibility to rearing influence, 125 first-born, Caucasian boys from maritally intact families were studied. Results revealed that when infant negativity is measured with objective, replicable, and discriminantly valid procedures, no relation obtains between it and externalizing problems (nor inhibition). Moreover, as hypothesized on the basis of prior work, parenting was a stronger predictor of externalizing problems and inhibition in the case of children who were highly negative as infants. Mothering proved a stronger predictor of externalizing problems and fathering of inhibition, with more negative mothering in the 2nd and 3rd year forecasting higher CBCL-externalizing scores and less negative fathering in the 2nd and 3rd year and more positive fathering in the 2nd year forecasting more inhibition at age 3. Implications of these findings for studies of parental influence are considered.

This study examined associations between two forms of peer victimization, physical and relational, and externalizing behaviors including drug use, aggression, and delinquent behaviors among a sample of 276 predominantly African American eighth graders attending middle school in an urban public school system. Regression analyses indicated that physical victimization was significantly related to cigarette and alcohol use but not to advanced alcohol and marijuana use; relational victimization contributed uniquely to all categories of drug use after controlling for physical victimization. Physical victimization was also significantly related to physical and relational aggression and delinquent behaviors, and relational victimization made a unique contribution in the concurrent prediction of these behaviors. Physical victimization was more strongly related to both categories of alcohol use, aggression, and to delinquent behaviors among boys than among girls. In contrast, relational victimization was more strongly related to physical aggression and marijuana use among girls than among boys, but more strongly related to relational aggression among boys than among girls. These findings provide information about the generalizability of prior research and have important implications for intervention efforts.This research was supported by Cooperative Agreement U81/CCU309966 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The research and interpretations reported herein are the sole responsibility of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the CDC or represent the views, opinions, or policies of the CDC or its staff.

Borderline personality disorder is a particularly devastating, yet understudied form of psychopathology. One of the most significant gaps in existing knowledge is the lack of systematic, prospective empirical attention to the developmental precursors of borderline personality. The present investigation was an exploratory attempt to address this limitation through (a) development of a psychometrically sound self-report instrument that assesses borderline personality features in childhood, the Borderline Personality Features Scale for Children (BPFS-C); (b) examination of the stability of BPF in childhood; (c) evaluation of gender differences in BPF in childhood; and (d) evaluation of the specificity of the BPFS-C for assessing borderline personality features. These goals were achieved through the prospective study of a normative sample of 400 (54% female) fourth though sixth graders who were assessed during the Fall of Year 1, Spring of Year 1, and Fall of Year 2. The use of linear mixed modeling techniques provided evidence for the construct validity of the BPFS-C. Further, borderline personality features as assessed with the BPFS-C were found to be moderately stable over the course of the study, with girls reporting higher levels of BPF than boys. Results also demonstrated that children's scores on the BPFS-C were uniquely related to indicators of borderline personality pathology above and beyond their scores on the Children's Depression Inventory. The implications of these results for the study of the development and etiology of borderline pathology are discussed.This research was supported by a grant to the first author from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH063684). We acknowledge Leslie Morey and Carol Rockhill for their extensive assistance with the development of the BPFS-C. We also thank the staff of the School Buddies Project and the teachers and children who participated in this study for their significant contributions.

Patterns of continuity and change in competence and resilience over the transition to adulthood were examined in relation to adversity and psychosocial resources, with a focus on adaptive resources that may be particularly important for this transition. Variable-focused and person-focused analyses drew on data from the Project Competence longitudinal study of a school cohort followed over 20 years from childhood through emerging adulthood (EA) into the young adulthood (YA) years with excellent retention (90%). Success in age-salient and emerging developmental tasks from EA to YA was examined in a sample of 173 of the original participants with complete data on adversity, competence, and key resources. Regressions and extreme-group analyses indicated striking continuity in competence and resilience, yet also predictable change. Success in developmental tasks in EA and YA was related to core resources originating in childhood (IQ, parenting quality, socioeconomic status) and also to a set of EA adaptive resources that included planfulness/future motivation, autonomy, adult support, and coping skills. EA adaptive resources had unique predictive significance for successful transitions to adulthood, both overall and for the small group of individuals whose pattern of adaptation changed dramatically from maladaptive to resilient over the transition. Results are discussed in relation to the possibility that the transition to adulthood is a window of opportunity for changing the life course.This article is based on data collected as part of the Project Competence longitudinal study, which was initiated under the leadership of Norman Garmezy, and was supported through grants to Ann Masten, Auke Tellegen, and Norman Garmezy from the William T. Grant Foundation, the National Science Foundation (SBR-9729111), the National Institute of Mental Health (MH33222), and the University of Minnesota. Preliminary results of this study were presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence in Baltimore (March 2004). The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions to this study by the participants, who shared their lives over time to benefit others, and by the many research team members, students, and faculty, who added ideas and data to this endeavor over the years. The authors particularly want to acknowledge the role of Doug Coatsworth in designing the emerging adulthood assessments pertinent to this article and the current members of the Project Competence research team who improved this article through their thoughtful critiques and comments as the analyses and writing progressed.