The role of environmental risk and protective factors (attachment, verbal intelligence) in school-aged children's adaptation was examined. Subjects were 45 7-year-old children from low socioeconomic status environments. Security of attachment to mother was assessed by reunion behavior in the laboratory following an hour-long separation. Mothers and teachers reported on behavior problems using the Child Behavior Checklist. Results revealed a higher proportion of insecure attachments and behavior problems than in low-risk populations. Greater risk and less security were associated with poorer behavioral adaptation. Multiple regressions tested a model of protective processes; results demonstrated main effects of attachment security, even after controlling for extent of environmental risk.

This investigation examined the extent to which polymorphisms of the serotonin transporter linked promoter region (5-HTTLPR) and the dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) genes differentially influenced the development of attachment security and disorganization in maltreated and nonmaltreated infants at age 13 months, and the extent to which the efficacy of preventive interventions to promote attachment security were influenced by genetic variation. The sample consisted of 106 infants from maltreating families, participating in a randomized control trial evaluating the efficacy of two interventions, child–parent psychotherapy and psychoeducational parenting intervention, and 47 infants from nonmaltreating families. DNA samples were genotyped for polymorphisms of 5-HTTLPR, DRD4 exon III variable number tandem repeat, and DRD4-521. Attachment organization at age 1 and at age 2 was assessed with the Strange Situation for all participants, prior to and following the completion of the interventions. High rates of disorganized attachment were observed in the maltreatment compared to the nonmaltreatment group, and both interventions resulted in increased rates of attachment security at age 2. Genetic variation did not influence improvement in attachment organization among maltreated infants. Among maltreated infants, genetic variation had minimal effect on attachment organization. In contrast, among nonmaltreated infants, 5-HTTLPR and DRD4 polymorphisms influenced attachment security and disorganization at age 2 and the stability of attachment disorganization over time.

Magnetic resonance imaging studies of maltreated children with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) suggest that maltreatment-related PTSD is associated with adverse brain development. Maltreated youth resilient to chronic PTSD were not previously investigated and may elucidate neuromechanisms of the stress diathesis that leads to resilience to chronic PTSD. In this cross-sectional study, anatomical volumetric and corpus callosum diffusion tensor imaging measures were examined using magnetic resonance imaging in maltreated youth with chronic PTSD (N = 38), without PTSD (N = 35), and nonmaltreated participants (n = 59). Groups were sociodemographically similar. Participants underwent assessments for strict inclusion/exclusion criteria and psychopathology. Maltreated youth with PTSD were psychobiologically different from maltreated youth without PTSD and nonmaltreated controls. Maltreated youth with PTSD had smaller posterior cerebral and cerebellar gray matter volumes than did maltreated youth without PTSD and nonmaltreated participants. Cerebral and cerebellar gray matter volumes inversely correlated with PTSD symptoms. Posterior corpus callosum microstructure in pediatric maltreatment-related PTSD differed compared to maltreated youth without PTSD and controls. The group differences remained significant when controlling for psychopathology, numbers of Axis I disorders, and trauma load. Alterations of these posterior brain structures may result from a shared trauma-related mechanism or an inherent vulnerability that mediates the pathway from chronic PTSD to comorbidity.

We previously used the theory of allostasis as the foundation for a model of the current stress process. This work highlighted the core emotional systems of the brain as the central mediator of the relationship between stress and health. In this paper, we extend this theoretical approach to consider the role of developmental timing. In doing so, we note that there are strong implicit models that underlie current developmental stress research in the social and life sciences. We endeavor to illustrate these models explicitly as we review the evidence behind each one and discuss their implications. We then extend these models to reflect recent findings from research in life span human neuroscience. The result is a new set of developmental allostatic models that provide fodder for future empirical research, as well as novel perspectives on intervention.

Narcissism is a dynamic form of personality characterized by a pervasive sense of grandiosity and self-importance, and by a need to obtain continuous self-validation from others. Very little is known about its etiology and development. What factors (e.g., temperament, parenting experiences) and processes (e.g., transactions between these factors over time) cause some children to become more narcissistic than others? When does narcissism first emerge, and how does narcissism develop over time? This article describes a framework for research on the etiology and development of narcissism, and recommends ten research priorities. This research should yield fundamental knowledge and should inform intervention efforts to minimize the negative impact narcissistic individuals have on themselves and on others.

Although research has been conducted on the course, consequences, and correlates of borderline personality disorder (BPD), little is known about its emergence in childhood, and no studies have examined the extent to which theoretical models of the pathogenesis of BPD in adults are applicable to the correlates of borderline personality symptoms in children. The goal of this study was to examine the interrelationships between two BPD-relevant personality traits (affective dysfunction and disinhibition), self- and emotion-regulation deficits, and childhood borderline personality symptoms among 263 children aged 9 to 13. We predicted that affective dysfunction, disinhibition, and their interaction would be associated with childhood borderline personality symptoms, and that self- and emotion-regulation deficits would mediate these relationships. Results provided support for the roles of both affective dysfunction and disinhibition (in the form of sensation seeking) in childhood borderline personality symptoms, as well as their hypothesized interaction. Further, both self- and emotion-regulation deficits partially mediated the relationship between affective dysfunction and childhood borderline personality symptoms. Finally, results provided evidence of different gender-based pathways to childhood borderline personality symptoms, suggesting that models of BPD among adults are more relevant to understanding the factors associated with borderline personality symptoms among girls than boys.

Mood disorder symptoms and their associated functional impairments are hypothesized to come about as the result of the conjoint, interactive influences of genetic, biological, and psychological vulnerabilities, family distress, and life stress at different points of development. We discuss a developmental psychopathology model that delineates pathways to high family conflict and mood exacerbation among early-onset bipolar patients. New data from a treatment development study indicate that adolescent bipolar patients in high expressed emotion families have more symptomatic courses of illness over 2 years than adolescents in low expressed emotion families. Chronic and episodic stressors are also correlated with lack of mood improvement while adolescents are in treatment. Family-focused treatment (FFT) given in conjunction with pharmacotherapy appears to ameliorate the course of bipolar disorder in adults. This treatment has recently been modified to address the developmental presentation of bipolar disorder among adolescents. We present data from an open trial of FFT and pharmacotherapy (N = 20) indicating that bipolar adolescents stabilize in mania, depression, and parent-rated problem behaviors over 2 years. Future research should focus on clarifying the developmental pathways to early-onset bipolar disorder and the role of protective factors and preventative psychosocial interventions in delaying the first onset of the disorder.This research was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grants MH43931, MH62555, and MH073871; a Distinguished Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression; and a grant from the Robert Sutherland Foundation.

The prevalence, recurrence, and incidence of depression in adolescence and young adulthood are substantial for both males and females. In this study, we examined social setting variables that influence depression in males and females from adolescence to young adulthood. Rather than focusing on single ecological factors, we examined multiple settings including families, peers, and neighborhoods using longitudinal data from 372 families living in a large eastern urban area. We found that variables related to depression differed for males and females depending on the developmental period being examined. Family and peer variables in adolescence were significantly related to change in depression during the transition to adulthood for males, whereas family and neighborhood variables were marginally significant for females. Family and neighborhood variables in adulthood were significantly related to change in depression for females, and peer variables were significant for both males and females. Overall, contextual variables in adolescence had a more significant impact on change in depression for males, whereas contemporary variables in young adulthood had a more significant impact on change in depression for females.The authors acknowledge the assistance of Frank Furstenberg for the collection of this data with funds from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Network on Successful Adolescence in High Risk Environments. The authors also acknowledge partial support for the writing of this article from a National Institute of Mental Health Behavioral Science Research Center Grant awarded to the second author.

Recent research on the disorders of attention and activity has indicated inherited variants of genes controlling aspects of neurotransmission, abnormalities of structure and function in regions of frontal lobes and basal ganglia, failures to suppress inappropriate responses, and a cascade of failures in various kinds of cognitive performance and organization of behavior. This review integrates the neurodevelopmental findings with findings from developmental psychopathology. It outlines several developmental tracks by which constitutional factors interact with the psychological environment. In one set of tracks, altered brain states lead to cognitive alteration. An understimulating environment is evoked by (and may be genetically associated with) an inattentive and cognitively impulsive style during early childhood. In another track, impulsive and inattentive behavior shows direct continuity through childhood into late adolescence. In yet another track, impulsiveness evokes (and may be genetically associated with) critical expressed emotion from parents and inefficient coping strategies, which in turn contribute to the development of antisocial conduct. This formulation emphasizes the need for several types of research: the mapping of biological findings onto different components of disorder, the combination of genetically informative designs with direct measurement of relevant aspects of the environment, and the use of longitudinal studies to examine predictive and mediating factors separately for different aspects of outcome.

One of the fundamental limitations of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) categorical model of personality disorder classification has been the lack of a strong scientific foundation, including an understanding of childhood antecedents. The DSM-IV-TR personality disorders, however, do appear to be well understood as maladaptive variants of the domains and facets of the general personality structure as conceptualized within the five-factor model (FFM). Integrating the classification of personality disorder with the FFM brings to an understanding of the personality disorders a considerable body of scientific research on childhood antecedents. The temperaments and traits of childhood do appear to be antecedent to the FFM of adult personality structure, and these temperament and traits of childhood and adolescence are the likely antecedents for adult personality disorder, providing further support for the conceptualization of the adult personality disorders as maladaptive variants of the domains and facets of the FFM. Conceptualizing personality disorders in terms of the FFM thereby provides a basis for integrating the classification of abnormal and normal personality functioning across the life span.

Interpersonal and social rhythm therapy (IPSRT) is a manual-based adjunctive psychotherapy specific to the treatment of bipolar disorder. This paper reviews the theoretical rationale and empirical evidence for the efficacy of IPSRT in combination with pharmacotherapy for adults with bipolar I disorder. We then provide an overview of the developmental modifications being made to IPSRT to increase its relevance to adolescents with bipolar disorder.To protect confidentiality, case examples are composites of several different adolescents receiving IPSRT. Patients' real names were not used in this report. The authors are grateful to Elizabeth McCauley and Carolyn McCarty for their thoughtful comments on an earlier draft of this article. We also thank Laura Mufson for her sage advice regarding the developmental adaptations being made to IPSRT to be more relevant to adolescents with bipolar disorder. This work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health (Bethesda, MD) Grants MH70570 (S.H.) and MH29618 (E.F.) and General Clinical Research Center Grant M01-RR00037.

This study pursued three goals. The first goal was to explore children's trajectories of anxiety from age 6 to 12 using a representative community sample. The second goal was to assess the link between certain behavioral characteristics assessed in kindergarten (i.e., inattention, hyperactivity, aggressiveness, and low prosociality) and these trajectories. The third goal was to determine whether certain aspects of maternal parenting (i.e., warmth and discipline) could moderate the association between these characteristics and the trajectories of anxiety. A population sample of 2,000 children (1,001 boys, 999 girls) participated in this longitudinal study. Developmental trajectory analyses allowed us to identify four trajectory groups: low, low-increasing, high-declining, and high anxiety groups. Moreover, multinomial logistic regressions revealed a profile of children at risk of developing high anxiety symptoms (i.e., high group), characterized by sociofamily adversity, inattention, and low prosociality in the classroom. Hyperactivity was also found in this profile, but only for children exposed to a mother who showed little affective warmth. Finally, mothers' high level of discipline increased the odds of belonging to the high anxiety group. The results are discussed in relation to studies examining the association among anxiety, behavioral characteristics, and parenting during childhood.

Developmental–ecological models are useful for integrating risk factors across multiple contexts and conceptualizing mediational pathways for adolescent alcohol use, yet these comprehensive models are rarely tested. This study used a developmental–ecological framework to investigate the influence of neighborhood, family, and peer contexts on alcohol use in early adolescence (N = 387). Results from a multi-informant longitudinal cross-lagged mediation path model suggested that high levels of neighborhood disadvantage were associated with high levels of alcohol use 2 years later via an indirect pathway that included exposure to delinquent peers and adolescent delinquency. Results also indicated that adolescent involvement with delinquent peers and alcohol use led to decrements in parenting, rather than being consequences of poor parenting. Overall, the study supported hypothesized relationships among key microsystems thought to influence adolescent alcohol use, and thus findings underscore the utility of developmental–ecological models of alcohol use.

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.

Aspects of face processing, on the one hand, and theory of mind (ToM) tasks, on the other hand, show specific impairment in autism. We aimed to discover whether a correlation between tasks tapping these abilities was evident in typically developing children at two developmental stages. One hundred fifty-four normal children (6–8 years and 16–18 years) and 13 high-IQ autistic children (11–17 years) were tested on a range of face-processing and IQ tasks, and a ToM test based on the attribution of intentional movement to abstract shapes in a cartoon. By midchildhood, the ability accurately and spontaneously to infer the locus of attention of a face with direct or averted gaze was specifically associated with the ability to describe geometrical animations using mental state terms. Other face-processing and animation descriptions failed to show the association. Autistic adolescents were impaired at both gaze processing and ToM descriptions, using these tests. Mentalizing and gaze perception accuracy are associated in typically developing children and adolescents. The findings are congruent with the possibility that common neural circuitry underlies, at least in part, processing implicated in these tasks. They are also congruent with the possibility that autism may lie at one end of a developmental continuum with respect to these skills, and to the factor(s) underpinning them.The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Alliance for Autism Research in funding this work.

This study examines the relationship of child sexual abuse to classroom academic performance and behavior in a sample of 6–16-year-old girls. Half of the sample was sexually abused by a family member. The other half is a demographically similar nonabused comparison group. Measures of academic performance include school records, teacher's ratings of classroom behavior and performance, and parental reports of school performance. Possible mediators of the impact of sexual abuse on classroom performance and behavior – cognitive capability, perceived competence, and behavior problems–are also measured. Results can be summarized as follows, (a) A history of sexual abuse does predict academic performance: Abuse is directly negatively related to ratings of classroom social competence, competent learner, and overall academic performance and positively related to school avoidant behavior, but is not related to grades, (b) Sexual abuse is negatively related to cognitive ability and positively related to measures of behavior problems indicating depression, destructiveness, and dissociation, (c) Cognitive ability and perceived competence predict the more “academic” aspects of academic performance—grades, ratings as a competent learner, and overall academic performance. Behavior problems predict ratings as a competent learner, classroom social competence, school avoidant behavior, and overall academmic performance.

Most previous research has assumed that adolescent alcohol use and problem use represent a continuum and are influenced by the same psychosocial factors, with problem use representing more severe psychosocial impairment. The current study evaluated this assumption by identifying the correlates of adolescent alcohol use and those of problem use. Using a community sample of adolescent children of alcoholics (COAs) and a demographically matched comparison group (non-COAs), a typology of adolescent alcohol use was created, and alcohol use groups were compared on variables chosen from nine psychosocial domains. The correlates of problem alcohol use were different from those of moderate use. Problem use was associated with fundamental family disruptions and poor psychological functioning. In contrast, the determinants of moderate alcohol use reflected unconventionality and socialization specific to alcohol. Few psychosocial variables distinguished abstainers from light drinkers. Intervention and methodological implications of these findings are discussed.

We review different conceptions of inhibitory control that may be relevant to the regulatory problems featured in borderline personality disorder (BPD). These conceptions have often been framed with regard to personality traits of inhibitory control, but can also be related to cognitive measures of response suppression as well as affect regulation. Reactive behavioral inhibition is relatively unstudied in relation to BPD. A substantial amount of literature links executive function problems with BPD, but that literature has not isolated executive response inhibition nor been controlled for other personality disorder symptoms of antisociality, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or depression, anxiety, or posttraumatic symptoms. We therefore conducted a study of this question looking at BPD symptoms in an adult sample with a small number of BPD subjects and other disorders. Results indicated that symptoms of BPD were correlated with response inhibition (measured by stop signal reaction time) even after controlling for the overlap of stop inhibition with ADHD, antisociality, and other Axis II disorder symptoms. We conclude by hypothesizing discrete developmental routes to BPD, based on different mechanism breakdowns, which would be amenable to empirical investigation at the cognitive or trait level of analysis.Portions of this work were supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant R01-MH63146 (J.N., PI).

This paper explores the development of cortical plasticity and cognitive representations in light of temperamental differences in basic motivational systems. Motivational systems related to reward/approach and punishment/avoidance begin to function early in life. By controlling the child's behavioral and emotional reactions, these systems provide exteroceptive and interoceptive information capable of stabilizing cortical synapses through use-dependent processes. By controlling attention, the motivational systems further contribute to synaptic stabilization through modulatory processes. As a result, children with strong reward/approach systems are likely to develop representations that emphasize potential rewards and frustrations and may become vulnerable to impulsive disorders. Children with strong punishment/avoidance systems may develop representations emphasizing punishment and relief, along with a vulnerability to anxiety disorders. These motivationally constructed representations differentiate in varied ways across domains involving the physical world, moral rules, and the self and, thus, contribute to the various forms of impulsive and anxious psychopathology.