The important implications for developmental psychopathology that derive from advances in psychiatric and behavioral genetics are discussed in relation to a series of mistaken stereotypes: that strong effects mean that environmental influences must be unimportant; that genes provide a limit to potential; that genetic strategies are of no value for studying environmental influences; that nature and nurture are separate; that genes for serious diseases are necessarily bad; that diseases have nothing to do with normal variation; that genetic findings will not help identify diseases; that genetic influences diminish with age; that disorders that run in families must be genetic; that disorders that seem not to run in families cannot be genetic; and that single major genes lead only to specific rare diseases that follow a Mendelian pattern. The reasons why these stereotypes are mistaken are considered in relation to genetic concepts and findings.

Deficits specific to the syndrome of infantile autism appear in imitation, emotion sharing, theory of mind, pragmatics of communication, and symbolic play. Current competing theories of Hobson and of Baron-Cohen, Frith, and associates account for some, but not all, of these specific deficits. The present article suggests that early social capacities involving imitation, emotion sharing, and theory of mind are primarily and specifically deficient in autism. Further, these three capacities involve forming and coordinating social representations of self and other at increasingly complex levels via representational processes that extract patterns of similarity between self and other. Stern's theory of interpersonal development is offered as a continuous model for understanding the development and deficits of the autistic child and as a means for integrating competing theories about the primary deficits in autism. Finally, the article suggests a neuropsychological model of interpersonal coordination involving prefrontal cortex and executive function capacities that is consistent with the social deficits observed in autism.

Autistic children were assessed for their understanding of seeing and wanting. In Experiment 1, they judged whether a target was visible to each of two observers (a Level 1 task of visual perspective-taking) and which of two targets each observer would identify as “in front” (a Level 2 task). The autistic children performed as well as normal children of the same verbal mental age on both tasks. In Experiment 2, autistic children identified the emotion that familiar situations would elicit, expressed a selective preference or desire, and reidentified that desire despite an outcome that thwarted it. Their performance was similar to that of normal and retarded children equated for verbal mental age. An explanation is offered for autistic children's difficulty on some psychological tasks and their relative success on others.

The independent contributions of preschool children's noncompliance and overactivity/inattention and measures of family stress to the prediction of negative maternal control were examined in two cohorts of children. In Cohort 1, children's noncompliant and hyperactive behavior each predicted more negative maternal control, whereas in Cohort 2, the interaction between noncompliance and overactivity was predictive of particularly high levels of negative control. In Cohort 2, stressful life events, maternal depression, and marital distress were also associated with negative maternal control. Stressful life events interacted with noncompliance indicating that the combination of a difficult child and a high level of family stress exacerbated the tendency of mothers of preschool children to exert negative control to gain compliance. Results indicate that factors external to the mother-child relationship exert an independent influence on maternal behavior.

This study investigates play and nonplay behavior in maltreated and nonmaltreated preschool children. In addition, standardized tests of cognitive and language ability were administered, and teachers rated the children's classroom behavior. Thirty 4–5-year-old children participated in the study: 15 had a history of child abuse, and 15 nonabused children served as a matched control group. Across a 6-week period, children's social and play interactions were videotaped in the classroom. Videotape recordings were analyzed for the level of social participation and cognitive play. No differences were found between the two groups on the standardized measures. However, maltreated, relative to nonmaltreated, children engaged in less overall play and greater functional or sensorimotor play. Maltreated children also engaged in more transitional behavior and aggression, were less competent with peers, and were perceived by teachers as more emotionally disturbed. Results of this study suggest that the impact of maltreatment extends beyond the family into play and social relationships in preschool.

This study examined children's reports of relatedness to multiple relationship figures in a population of low SES maltreated (N = 115) and nonmaltreated (N = 100) children, ranging in age from 7 to 13 years old. Relatedness scales were administered to children as part of individual interviews given in the context of a summer day camp. Consistent with prior normative research, it was found that the two dimensions of relatedness–emotional quality and psychological proximity-seeking–are negatively correlated with each other. Moreover, patterns of relatedness, based on the configuration of children's scores on both dimensions, reflect group differences, with maltreated children more likely to have confused patterns of relatedness and nonmaltreated children more likely to have optimal patterns. Connections were examined among children's self-reported feelings of relatedness for different relationship figures. Substantial concordance was found among the children's reports of relatedness with their mothers, their teachers, and their best friends. Evidence is presented to support the claim that children form both global and specific models of relationships. The findings are discussed in terms of attachment and self-system theory.