One of the central tenets of developmental psychopathology is the belief that we canlearn more about normal functioning through the study of psychopathology and arrive at a betterunderstanding of pathological conditions through investigations of normal behavior. Advances inknowledge from one area will inform us regarding mechanisms at work in the other. A similarperspective is the driving force behind recent scientific advances in our understanding of certaindevelopmental disorders. In this paper, molecular findings for four developmental disorders arereviewed: Prader–Willi syndrome, fragile X syndrome, Williams syndrome, andlissencephaly. These disorders were chosen for discussion because putative genes for each ofthem have been isolated. The ways in which mutations within these genes disrupt normalcognitive and behavioral functioning are discussed. Although considerable progress has beenachieved in understanding the genetic mechanisms for these illnesses, much more research isneeded to identify the environmental and genetic factors that interact to contribute to theexpression of the more complex behavioral disorders.

Research suggests that adults who have developed a coherent perspective on their negative,early attachment relationships (i.e., earned secures) do not reenact poor parenting practices withtheir own children. However, no studies have addressed whether earned secures maintainpositive parenting under the pressures of aversive environmental conditions. This study testedfive alternative models that predict how earned secures parent under low and high stress incomparison to adults who had a positive upbringing (i.e., continuous secures) and adults whohave an incoherent perspective on a troubled childhood (i.e., insecures). Only if earned securesexhibit effective caregiving under high stress, in comparison to the other security groups, can itbe assumed that they have broken the intergenerational cycle of poor parenting. The AdultAttachment Interview was used to classify 97 mothers as earned secure, continuous secure, andinsecure. Home observations of parenting and maternal self-reports of daily hassles (our stressmeasure) were obtained when children were 27 months old. Planned comparisons revealed thatthe diathesis-stress/incoherent present state of mind model most accurately predictedparenting. Thus, under high stress, the earned secures parented equivalently to the continuoussecures and more positively than the insecures; under low stress no group differences wereobtained. These findings indicate that in a normative sample earned secures break theintergenerational cycle and exhibit resilient parenting even under high stress conditions.

This study examines longitudinal correlates of coparental and family group-level dynamicsduring infancy. Thirty-seven couples observed at play with their 8–11-month-old infants(15 boys, 22 girls) rated their child's internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and theirown coparenting behavior 3 years later. Teachers also rated child behavior at the 3-yearfollow-up. Several significant relationships emerged between observed family process (highhostility–competitiveness, low family harmony, and high parenting discrepancies in thetriad) at Time 1, and subsequent reports of child and coparenting behavior at Time 2. Largerparenting discrepancies at Time 1 predicted greater child anxiety as rated by teachers; greaterhostility–competitiveness and lower harmony forecast higher child aggression. Time 1family process continued to predict Time 2 aggression even after controlling for individual andmarital functioning. Several links were also found between distressed family process and laterparental reports of negative coparenting behavior. These parental reports of coparenting alsoexplained unique variance in concurrent child behavior ratings. The significance of coparentingas a distinct family construct is discussed.

This study sought to understand how experiences of maltreatment occurring prior to 12 yearsof age affect adolescent peer and dating relationships. A school-based sample of 15-year-oldswas divided into maltreated (n = 132) and nonmaltreated (n = 227)subgroups based on self-reported maltreatment. These two groups were then compared on twotheoretically determined dimensions of adjustment (i.e., interpersonal sensitivity/hostility;personal resources) and self- and teacher-report measures of peer and dating relationships.Findings supported the hypothesis that maltreated youths significantly differed fromnonmaltreated youths in terms of adjustment problems as well as conflict with dating partnersand close friends. Maltreated youths reported significantly more verbal and physical abuse bothtoward and by their dating partners, and were seen by teachers as engaging in more acts ofaggression and harassment toward others. In regression analyses, the significant associationbetween maltreatment and dating conflict for males was strengthened by including adjustmentdimensions in the equation; for females, adjustment variables mediated the association betweenmaltreatment and dating conflict. Results are discussed in relation to a maladaptive interpersonaltrajectory for maltreated children, wherein a violent interactional dynamic in adolescent closerelationships may be setting the stage for violence in intimate partnerships.

This study reports a short-term prospective investigation of the role of peer groupvictimization in the development of children's behavior problems, at home and in school.Sociometric interviews were utilized to assess aggression, victimization by peers, and peerrejection, for 330 children who were in either the third or fourth grade (approximate mean agesof 8–9 years old). Behavior problems were assessed using standardized behaviorchecklists completed by mothers and teachers. A follow-up assessment of behavior problems wascompleted 2 years later, when the children were in either the fifth or sixth grade (approximatemean ages of 10–11 years old). Victimization was both concurrently and prospectivelyassociated with externalizing, attention dysregulation, and immature/dependent behavior.Victimization also predicted increases in these difficulties over time, and incremented theprediction in later behavior problems associated with peer rejection and aggression. The resultsof this investigation demonstrate that victimization in the peer group is an important predictor oflater behavioral maladjustment.

While research has well documented that urban youth are exposed to increasing rates ofcommunity violence, little is known about what increases risk for violence exposure, whatprotects children from exposure to violence, and what factors reduce the most negative outcomesassociated with witnessing violence. This study expands on current research by evaluating therelations between exposure to violence, family relationship characteristics and parentingpractices, and aggression and depression symptoms. Data were drawn from a sample of 245African-American and Latino boys and their caregivers from economically disadvantagedinner-city neighborhoods in Chicago. Rates of exposure could not be predicted from familyrelationship and parenting characteristics, although there was a trend for discipline to be related.Exposure to community violence was related to increases in aggressive behavior and depressionover a 1-year period even after controlling for previous status. Future studies should continue toevaluate the role of exposure to violence on the development of youth among differentneighborhoods and communities. Implications for intervention and policy are discussed.

Objectives of this study were to ascertain risk and protective factors in the adjustment of 78school-age and teenage offspring of opioid- and cocaine-abusing mothers. Using a multimethod,multiinformant approach, child outcomes were operationalized via lifetime psychiatric diagnosesand everyday social competence (each based on both mother and child reports), and dimensionalassessments of symptoms (mother report). Risk/protective factors examined included thechild sociodemographic attributes of gender, age, and ethnicity, aspects of maternalpsychopathology, and both mother's and children's cognitive functioning. Resultsrevealed that greater child maladjustment was linked with increasing age, Caucasian (as opposedto African American) ethnicity, severity of maternal psychiatric disturbance, higher maternalcognitive abilities (among African Americans) and lower child cognitive abilities (amongCaucasians). Limitations of the study are discussed, as are implications of findings for futureresearch.