ABSTRACT
Much has changed in the study of psychopathology since the publication in 1984 of the special issue of Child Development devoted to the new eld of developmental psychopathology. One of the major changes was the shift from a linear approach, where it was believed that a variable leads directly to an outcome or that variables contributing to an outcome make independent contributions to such outcomes. Perhaps the best example is the nature-nurture debate, where each side erroneously assumed that genes and environment made separate and independent contributions to the phenotypic outcomes of development (Gottlieb & Tucker-Halpern, 2002). As a result of recent research ndings showing that social context is a powerful determinant of phenotypic expression (e.g., Caspi et al., 2002), this dualistic conception of causality is being replaced by an interactive or coactive view of causality.
