Transactional models have informed research design and interpretation in studies relevant to developmental psychopathology. Bidirectional effects between individuals and social contexts have been found in many behavioral and cognitive domains. This review will highlight representative studies where the transactional model has been explicitly or implicitly tested. These studies include experimental, quasiexperimental, and naturalistic designs. Extensions of the transactional model have been made to interventions designed to target different aspects of a bidirectional system in efforts to improve developmental outcomes. Problems remain in the need to theoretically specify structural models and to combine analyses of transactions in the parent–child relationship with transactions in the broader social contexts. Longitudinal studies with sufficient time points to assess reciprocal processes continue to be important. Such longitudinal investigations will permit identifying developmental periods where the child or the context may be most influential or most open to change.

In this longitudinal study, we examined the relations between emotion knowledge in first grade, teacher reports of internalizing and externalizing behaviors from first grade, and children's self-reported internalizing behaviors in fifth grade. At Time 1, we assessed emotion knowledge, expressive vocabulary, caregiver-reported earned income, and teacher-rated internalizing and externalizing behaviors in 7-year-old children from economically disadvantaged families (N = 154). At Time 2, when the children were age 11, we collected children's self-reports of negative emotions, depression, anxiety, and loneliness. First grade teacher-reported externalizing behaviors, but not first grade internalizing behaviors, were positively related to children's self-reports of internalizing behaviors in fifth grade. First grade emotion knowledge accounted for a significant amount of variance in children's self-reports of internalizing symptoms 4 years later, after controlling for per capita earned income, expressive vocabulary, and teacher-reported internalizing and externalizing behaviors in first grade.

We introduce the construct of perceived containment, defined as children's beliefs about adults' capacity to impose firm limits and to prevail if there is a conflict in goals. We propose that children's containment beliefs represent an important but understudied factor in the development and maintenance of childhood aggression. Children's ratings on the Perceived Containment Questionnaire (PCQ) were inversely related to parent and teacher ratings of externalizing problems. Moreover, this relation was found to be independent of the quality of parental discipline. We also found evidence that perceived containment moderated the relation between overly harsh, inept discipline and children's externalizing behaviors: ineffective discipline was directly related to externalizing problems in children with relatively high PCQ scores but was unrelated to externalizing problems in children with relatively low PCQ scores. For the latter group of children, the affective quality of the mother–child relationship was a better predictor of problem behavior. These findings provide additional support for Kochanska's (1993) model of differential socialization and for Frick's (1998) assertions concerning meaningful subgroups of aggressive children.

Analyzing gene–brain–behavior linkages in childhood neurodevelopmental disorders, a research approach called “behavioral neurogenetics,” has provided new insights into understanding how both genetic and environmental factors contribute to complex variations in typical and atypical human development. Research into etiologically more homogeneous disorders, such as fragile X syndrome, in particular, allows the use of more precise metrics of genetic risk so that we can more fully understand the complex pathophysiology of childhood onset neurodevelopmental disorders. In this paper, we review our laboratory's behavioral neurogenetics research by examining gene–brain–behavior relationships in fragile X syndrome, a single-gene disorder that has become a well-characterized model for studying neurodevelopmental dysfunction in childhood. Specifically, we examine genetic influences, trajectories of cognition and behavior, variation in brain structure and function, and biological and environmental factors that influence developmental and cognitive outcomes of children with fragile X. The converging approaches across these multilevel scientific domains indicate that fragile X, which arises from disruption of a single gene leading to the loss of a specific protein, is associated with a cascade of aberrations in neurodevelopment, resulting in a central nervous system that is suboptimal with respect to structure and function. In turn, structural and functional brain alterations lead to early disruption in emotion, cognition, and behavior in the child with fragile X. The combination of molecular genetics, neuroimaging, and behavioral research have advanced our understanding of the linkages between genetic variables, neurobiological measures, IQ, and behavior. Our research and that of others demonstrates that neurobehavior and neurocognition, genetics, and neuroanatomy are all different views of the same intriguing biological puzzle, a puzzle that today is rapidly emerging into a more complete picture of the intricate linkages among gene, brain, and behavior in developing children. Understanding the complex multilevel scientific perspective involved in fragile X will also contribute to our understanding of normal development by highlighting developmental events throughout the life span, thereby helping us to delineate the boundaries of pathology.

Our objective is to advance the life course analytical framework by demonstrating a model for testing two of its tenets. The first is whether the individual's developmental history conditions the response to a turning point event. The second is whether the influence of a major life event upon an individual's developmental course depends upon the timing of the event. We test both propositions in an analysis of the effect of grade retention on a child's trajectory of physical aggression. Our analysis is based on data from a longitudinal study of 1,037 boys from schools in the lowest socioeconomic areas in Montreal, Canada. We find clear evidence that a developmental history of physical aggression conditions the child's response to grade retention. The evidence on whether the timing of retention affects this response is less clear.

The uneven cognitive phenotype in the adult outcome of Williams syndrome has led some researchers to make strong claims about the modularity of the brain and the purported genetically determined, innate specification of cognitive modules. Such arguments have particularly been marshaled with respect to language. We challenge this direct generalization from adult phenotypic outcomes to genetic specification and consider instead how genetic disorders provide clues to the constraints on plasticity that shape the outcome of development. We specifically examine behavioral studies, brain imaging, and computational modeling of language in Williams syndrome but contend that our theoretical arguments apply equally to other cognitive domains and other developmental disorders. While acknowledging that selective deficits in normal adult patients might justify claims about cognitive modularity, we question whether similar, seemingly selective deficits found in genetic disorders can be used to argue that such cognitive modules are prespecified in infant brains. Cognitive modules are, in our view, the outcome of development, not its starting point. We note that most work on genetic disorders ignores one vital factor, the actual process of ontogenetic development, and argue that it is vital to view genetic disorders as proceeding under different neurocomputational constraints, not as demonstrations of static modularity.

The influence of perceived teacher support on trajectories of depression and self-esteem in middle school was examined using multigroup latent growth cross-domain models. A longitudinal sample of 2,585 students was followed from the sixth through the eighth grades. Students' perceptions of teacher support and general self-esteem declined and depressive symptoms increased over the course of middle school. We further found that, for both boys and girls, changes in perceptions of teachers' support reliably predicted changes in both self-esteem and depression. In particular, those students perceiving increasing teacher support showed corresponding decreases in depressive symptoms and increases in self-esteem. Gender differences were found for the initial levels of both perceptions of teacher support and general self-esteem. A competing model was also tested, which gave additional support for pathways of influence from perceptions of teacher support to depression and self-esteem, rather than the reverse. This study underscores the role of teacher support in facilitating students' adjustment to middle school and highlights the importance of using idiographic methodologies in the study of developmental processes. Implications and future directions are discussed.

A survey of dynamic systems (DS) methods appropriate for testing systems-based models in developmental psychopathology is provided. The rationale for developing new methods for the field is reviewed first. In line with other scholars, we highlight the fundamental incompatibility between developmentalists' organismic, open systems models and the mechanistic research methods with which these models are tested. Key DS principles are explained and their commensurability with developmental psychopathologists' core theoretical concerns are discussed. Next, a survey of research designs and methodological techniques currently being used and refined by developmental DS researchers is provided. The strengths and limitations of each approach are discussed throughout this review. Finally, we elaborate on one specific dynamic systems method, state space grids, which addresses many of the limitations of previous DS techniques and may prove most useful for the discipline. This approach was developed as a middle road between DS methods that are mathematically heavy on the one hand and purely descriptive on the other. Examples of developmental and clinical studies that have applied state space grids are reviewed and suggestions for future analyses are made. We conclude with some implications for the application of this new methodology for studying change processes in clinical research.

Self-perceptions of parent–child relationship quality were examined for 142 boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 55 control boys. Parent perceptions were examined as well. Mothers and fathers of ADHD boys perceived their relationships with their children more negatively than mothers and fathers of control boys. Interestingly, despite these differences in parental perceptions, ADHD boys did not differ from control boys in their perceptions of their relationships with their parents. Further, when ADHD boys' perceptions were compared directly to those of their parents, ADHD boys' reports were positively enhanced relative to those of control parent–child dyads. Together, these results may be viewed as providing support for a positive illusory bias in the social self-perceptions of ADHD children.

This paper reviews alternative conceptual and descriptive models of how early exposure to risk may predict later development. Particular attention is paid to the methodological and data analytic strategies for differentiating among the models. Example empirical illustrations of human studies are then provided that highlight the potential significance of early experiences for behavioral/emotional development. Finally, implications of these models of early experiences for intervention and prevention are examined and identified as an important methodological tool for further research.

The prenatal and early postnatal periods constitute a time of rapid development when the brain is in a state of both heightened plasticity and vulnerability. Premature infants and infants of diabetic mothers represent two experiments of nature that allow researchers to observe how the developing brain responds to early biological challenge of either a global or regionally specific nature. We outline a set of organizing principles for conceptualizing the mechanisms by which early adverse experience may be encoded in the brain and subsequently expressed in behavior. We then review the available literature on developmental outcomes for infants born premature and infants of diabetic mothers. Research examining the relative influence of experience and maturation in the development of preterm infants indicates that advance experience does not accelerate the advent of specific cognitive capacities, but may enhance performance once the particular ability has emerged. Long-term follow-up of preterm infants also reveals evidence for plasticity and cognitive improvement into early adolescence for later maturing executive functions. Finally we offer an integrated model for investigating cognitive outcomes in infants of diabetic mothers that incorporates data from animal, electrophysiological, and behavioral measures.

As part of a larger investigation of very low income families, this study examined the characteristics that differentiated resilient from nonresilient school-age youths, with a focus on self-regulation (e.g., executive function, emotion regulation) skills. Resilience was operationally defined in a robust and comprehensive manner using well-established instruments that measured children's emotional well-being and mental health. Controlling for other explanatory variables, including differences in the experience of negative life events and chronic strains, resilient youths were notably different from nonresilient youths in terms of having greater self-regulatory skills and self-esteem, as well as in receiving more active parental monitoring. Study findings are discussed with regard to the theoretical framework of self-regulation and their implications for preventive intervention.

Attachment theory and research have offered fundamental insights into early sociopersonality development for the past quarter-century. As its scope expands throughout the life course with applications to developmental psychopathology, however, attachment work faces important conceptual and methodological challenges. These include (a) expanding Bowlby's theoretical formulations to address developmental changes in the nature of attachment organization beyond infancy, the converging influence of multiple attachment relationships, and the nature and development of internal working models; (b) systematically validating assessments of attachment security for older ages in the context of enhanced theoretical understanding of how attachment itself changes with age; (c) new methodological approaches to understanding the relations between attachment and later behavior in light of empirical evidence of stability and change in attachment security and the need for explicit theoretical predictions of the sequelae of attachment security; and (d) more complex conceptualizations of the associations among attachment, contextual risk, and later behavior. These are similar to the challenges facing the original pioneers of attachment theory and research, suggesting that familiar problems must now be reconsidered against the landscape of new applications of attachment work and the insights of contemporary developmental science.

A dual coercion model of family processes associated with the development of antisocial and depressive behavior during adolescence was assessed, using an at-risk sample of families and children. Consistent with the model, involvement in family coercion during childhood and adolescence increased both boys' and girls' risk for antisocial behavior in adolescence and girls' risk for depressive behavior. Coercive family processes served as a link between older and younger siblings' antisocial behavior. Childhood exposure to maternal depression predicted boys' and girls' depressive behavior 10 years later, but this association was not mediated by coercion. The data suggest that family risk factors and processes for antisocial development are similar for boys and girls but pathways to depression may be gender specific.

Developmental studies of antisocial behavior (ASB) have found two subgroups of behaviors, roughly described as aggressive and nonaggressive ASB. Theoretical accounts predict that aggressive ASB, which shows greater stability, should have high heritability. In contrast, nonaggressive ASB is very common in adolescence, shows less continuity, and should be influenced both by genes and shared environment. This study explored the genetic and environmental influences on aggressive and nonaggressive ASB in over 1,000 twin pairs aged 8–9 years and again at 13–14 years. Threshold models were fit to the data to incorporate the skew. In childhood, aggressive ASB was highly heritable and showed little influence of shared environment, whereas nonaggressive ASB was significantly influenced both by genes and shared environment. In adolescence, both variables were influenced both by genes and shared environment. The continuity in aggressive antisocial behavior symptoms from childhood to adolescence was largely mediated by genetic influences, whereas continuity in nonaggressive antisocial behavior was mediated both by the shared environment and genetic influences. These data are in agreement with the hypothesis that aggressive ASB is a stable heritable trait as compared to nonaggressive behavior, which is more strongly influenced by the environment and shows less genetic stability over time.

The human brain is functionally altered through experience, a phenomenon known as plasticity. Relevant experiences may be negative, as in brain injury. Adult brain injury results in permanent impairment. However, it has been assumed that early injury leads to substantial functional recovery. Animal studies suggest several predictions regarding whether this principle generally holds true. These studies indicate that the timing of brain injury, relative to the expected course of neurodevelopment, impacts the extent of recovery. Injuries occurring during the period of cell migration are particularly detrimental. However, outcome must be assessed longitudinally because apparent recovery in childhood may reverse as the brain matures. Moreover, recovery of one function may come at the expense of others. Whether these findings characterize outcome following preterm birth is the focus of this review. Preterm birth is associated with high rates of neurodevelopmental disability, primarily due to hypoxic–ischemic events. Periventricular brain structures and white matter tracts are particularly vulnerable to damage. Through school age, preterm children exhibit diminished levels of global intellectual function, attention, memory, and reasoning skills relative to full-term peers. It is questionable whether these deficits persist. Because few studies have followed recent cohorts into young adulthood, it is argued that outcome cannot be reliably described based on the available literature. Moreover, important contributors to later development have been neglected, including both genetic and experiential factors. With improved assessment, it may be possible to develop interventions based on the individual child's constellation of genetic, biological, and sociodemographic risks.

Being part of a delinquent group has been shown to facilitate the expression of an individual's own delinquent propensities. However, this facilitation effect has not been investigated from a developmental perspective within a population heterogeneity model. Using a semiparametric mixture model with data from the Montreal Longitudinal Experimental Study, this article addresses important issues in the developmental trends of membership to delinquent groups. We explore how the rate of violent behaviors follows delinquent peer group trajectories and investigate a differential facilitation effect of delinquent peers on violence across multiple developmental pathways. Results suggest that 25% of males followed a childhood or an adolescence delinquent group affiliation trajectory. These two groups account for most of the violent acts assessed during adolescence. In addition, the rate of violent behaviors follows these developmental trajectories. Controlling for these delinquent group trajectories, we also found that being involved in a delinquent group at any specific time during adolescence is associated with an increased rate of violent behaviors, and that leaving these groups results in a decrease in violent behaviors. This facilitation effect appears homogeneous over time and across developmental trajectories. Results are discussed from a social interactional perspective.

Most researchers and clinicians now agree that children and adolescents are able to develop depressive disorders, and there also appears to be consensus that developmental level has relatively little influence on the phenomenology of the depression. The present paper examines the validity of this latter assumption from methodological, theoretical, and empirical perspectives. We first review reasons why there might be developmental differences in the symptoms that define depression, and then discuss the implications and significance if such differences do or do not exist. Next, we highlight methodological and design issues relevant to the appropriate evaluation of this question. Then, we propose that this broad developmental question actually is comprised of two subquestions—one focusing on symptoms and the other focused at the syndrome level—that have not yet been clearly differentiated in the field. Finally, after conducting a meta-analysis of the current empirical literature and reviewing its limitations, recommendations are made regarding future research in this area.

This paper examines the advantages that arise from an individual differences approach to children's coping and vulnerabilities. It suggests that the basic motivational and attentional systems involved in temperament constitute relatively primitive coping mechanisms. With development, these primitive coping skills are aided by representational and other cortical functions, allowing the coping process to begin before a stressful event and thereby increasing the child's capacity to plan an effective coping option and to enhance self-control. Such an emphasis on motivational and attentional differences allows us to take advantage of children's diverse personalities as “experiments of nature” and to better understand the temperamental patterns that contribute to adaptive and maladaptive outcomes.

In recent years, the role of gender in the development of psychopathology has increasingly attracted the attention of researchers, theoreticians, and other professionals interested in the well-being of children and adolescents. This interest has taken diverse forms, ranging from the examination of sex differences in the prevalence of adjustment difficulties to the exploration of unique etiologies and trajectories in the development of psychopathology for boys versus girls. In this paper we (a) critically examine the current status of available theories, research, and methods related to the study of gender and psychopathology and provide recommendations for future work; (b) identify promising new trends that appear to have utility for enhancing our understanding of the role of gender in the development of adjustment difficulties; and (c) generate conclusions regarding gender and psychopathology by integrating information from past and present work with new ideas about fruitful directions for future inquiry.