Why do some children grow into resilient, adaptive adults, while others develop serious psychological problems? What are the dynamic processes and pathways that underlie normal and abnormal development? And how can the answers to these questions inform efforts to decrease both the prevalence and the severity of psychological distress? Focusing on the primary context in which children develop—the family—this volume unravels the complex connections among biological, psychological, and social-contextual processes that influence adaptation in childhood and adolescence. Explicating the basic concepts and methods of developmental psychopathology, the book sets forth a process-oriented framework for understanding human development and the onset of disordered behavior.
-from the publisher Contents
Introduction I. Theory
1. What Is Developmental Psychopathology?
2. Identifying the Dynamic Processes Underlying the Development of Psychopathology
3. Methodological Directions in Developmental Psychopathology Research
4. Pathways in Development
5. Complex Patterns of Influence: Risk and Protective Factors II. Research
6. Child Development and the Parent–Child Subsystem
7. New Directions in the Study of Parenting and Child Development
8. Children and the Marital Subsystem
9. Applications of Developmental Psychopathology: Parental Depression, Families, and Children's Development III. Clinical Implications
10. A Developmental Psychopathology Perspective on the Diagnosis, Classification, and Conceptualization of Children's Problems
11. A Developmental Psychopathology Perspective on Prevention and Treatment
Epilogue | 
