Introduction

Health care psychology for children has grown into a field of increasing opportunities for clinicians, researchers and health care providers. Pediatricians have long recognized that the behavioral psychology approach to pediatrics is important (Anderson, 1930). In the past 20 years Kagan’s (1965) prediction of a “new marriage” between pediatrics and psychology has been realized. In 1967, under the able leadership of Logan Wright (1967), pediatric psychology as a discipline emerged with the initiation of training programs in health sciences centers in Oklahoma and Iowa. Medical psychologists appeared within hospitals and school systems. They brought with them, in addition to their caring and curiosity, a science of psychology with deep roots in developmental psychology.