ABSTRACT
The field of infant mental health includes a broad spectrum of disciplines and approaches to promoting the well-being and development of infants. Activities within the field range from clinical interventions of various kinds of research efforts intended to explore the different parameters of development and their possible vicissitudes. Researchers and clinicians alike share an interest in elucidating how maturation and development unfold in the context of diverse sociocultural conditions, varying human relationships, genetic and temperamental differences, and the mutual influences among these factors. Another common interest is the effort to understand how early development influences later development. There is a broad professional consensus that early functioning and experience affect later functioning, although there may be disagreement about the potency of these influences and about the nature of the causal mechanisms underlying this effect.
