Child Psychopathology

Overview of theories and causes

Biological causes

Case of Lee

Reading for today: Chapter 2

Assumptions in Theories of Childhood Psychopathology

• Child behavior is multiply determined (multidimensional, no one theory is enough)

• The child and environment are interdependent and interact dynamically– transactional models of development, e,g, abuse

• Abnormal behavior involves continuities and discontinuities– quantitative changes, such as reading disorder– qualitative changes, such as eating disorder

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Lawful Discontinuity of Attachment

Waters et al., 2000

Secure Infants

Secure adults

Insecure adults

Family disruption

Infancy Age 22

Dimensions of development

• John gets in fights. How can we explain this behavior at different levels:– Biological– Cognitive– Emotional– Behavioral– Evolutionary– Family systems

Normal/ Abnormal Development• What are developmental achievements and

common problems/ diagnostic labels for the following ages:– 0-2– 2-6– 6-11– 12-20

• Achenbach (1982) overviews normal achievements, problems, and common diagnostic categories of childhood problems

Biological foundations of child psychopathology

Genetic contributions

• Can you name a trait or behavioral characteristic that is purely genetic?

• Even hair color, cancer, and reading have environmental influence GXE interactions

• In developmental psychology, few genetic causes have been isolated except trisomy 21

• Polygenic inheritance dominates approaches from behavioral genetics

Methods of the geneticist

Neurotransmitters

• Changes in neurotransmitters make children more or less likely to behave certain ways

• serotonin affects information processing and motor coordination, motivation

• benzodiazepine-GABA system reduces arousal and moderates emotions

• norepinephrine involved in stress/alarm

• dopamine acts as a switch to affect other brain functions

Case Review: Lee

• How could you explain Lee’s behavior at different levels of explanation?– Behavioral– Cognitive– Family– Emotional

• What are possible diagnoses for Lee?• What might happen in this case with respect to

treatment. Why? What levels of explanation are important?

• Form groups of three, we will discuss responses as a class