ABSTRACT
In sum, developmental psychopathology is a “conceptual approach that involves a set of research methods that capitalize on developmental and psychopathological variations to ask questions about mechanisms and processes” (Rutter, 2013, p. 1201). Psychopathology is viewed as developmental deviation in which specific aspects of the normative developmental trajectory have been derailed and,
Researchers and clinicians alike have exerted considerable effort to unravel the intricacies underlying disordered behavior in children and adults. In more recent decades, the foray into charting the precursors and developmental progression of childhood behavioral disturbance has emerged as its own unique subspecialty within clinical and developmental psychology. An exciting advance emanating from this burgeoning interest is the macroparadigm (Achenbach, 1990; Cicchetti, 2013) of developmental psychopathology. In their seminal article, Sroufe and Rutter (1984) defined developmental psychopathology as “the study of the origins and course of individual patterns of behavioral maladaptation, whatever the age of onset, whatever the causes, whatever the transformations in behavioral manifestation, and however complex the course of the developmental pattern may be” (p. 18). The primary focus of the developmental psychopathology perspective is to study the processes underlying continuity and change in patterns of both adaptive and maladaptive behavior from an interdisciplinary approach. A central tenet is the notion that no single theory can adequately explain all aspects of psychological maladjustment (Rutter, 2013). Instead, psychological functioning is best understood through reliance on and integration of multiple levels of analyses that arise from a variety of disciplines, each with unique theoretical views and methodological approaches. Accordingly, the developmental psychopathology approach draws on diverse scientific fields such as lifespan developmental psychology, clinical psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience, epidemiology, sociology, neuroendocrinology, genetics, among others, with the goal of providing a comprehensive knowledge base concerning the mutually influencing processes that underlie maladaptation as well as adaptation (Sroufe, 2013).
