Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T02:38:33.055Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Child psychiatry: the interface between clinical and developmental research1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Michael L. Rutter*
Affiliation:
MRC Child Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
22Address for correspondence: Professor M. L. Rutter, MRC Child Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF.

Synopsis

Developmental psychopathology constitutes a research strategy that is concerned with questions about continuities and discontinuities over time (the developmental perspective) and over the span of behavioural variation (the psychopathological perspective). The utility of this approach is discussed in relation to childhood depression, autism and schizophrenia, and the effects of adverse life experiences.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

This paper was presented as the Inaugural Lecture for the Opening of the MRC Child Psychiatry Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, 20 March 1985.

References

Achenbach, T. M (1978). Psychopathology of childhood: research problems and issues. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 46, 759776.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
American Psychiatric Association (1980). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – DSM-III (3rd edition). APA: Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
August, G. J., Stewart, M. A. & Tsai, L. (1981). The incidence of cognitive disabilities in the siblings of autistic children. British Journal of Psychiatry 138, 416422.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, H. M. & Frith, U. (1985). Does the autistic child have a ‘theory of mind’? Cognition (in the press).Google Scholar
Bartak, K., Rutter, M. & Cox, A. (1975). A comparative study of infantile autism and specific developmental receptive language disorder: I. The children. British Journal of Psychiatry 126, 127145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blomquist, H. K., Bohman, M., Edvinsson, S. O., Gillberg, C., Gustavson, K.-H., Holmgren, G. & Wahlstrom, J. (1985). Frequency of the fragile X syndrome in infantile autism. Clinical Genetics 27, 13117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Mass.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cameron, K. (1956). Past and present trends in child psychiatry. Journal of Mental Science 102, 599603.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cantwell, D. P. (1983). Depression in childhood: clinical picture and diagnostic criteria. In Affective Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence: An Update (ed. Cantwell, D. P. and Carlson, G. A.), pp. 318. MTP Press: LancasterCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cantwell, D. P. & Carlson, G. A. (1983). Issues in classification. In Affective Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence. An Update (ed. Cantwell, D. P. and Carlson, G. A.), pp. 1938. MTP Press: Lancaster.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, W. J., Puig-Antich, J., Hirsch, M., Paez, P., Ambrosini, P. J., Tabyizi, M. A. & Davies, M. (1985). The assessment of affective disorders in children and adolescents by semistructured interview. Archives of General Psychiatry 42, 696702.Google Scholar
Chess, S., Fernandez, P. B. & Korn, S. J. (1978). Behavioral consequences of congenital rubella. Journal of Pediatrics 93, 699703.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cicchetti, D. (1984). The emergence of developmental psychopathology. Child Development 55, 17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Department of Health and Social Security (1980). Two Reports on Research into Services for Children and Adolescents. HMSO: London.Google Scholar
Deykin, E. Y. & MacMahon, B. (1979). The incidence of seizures among children with autistic symptoms. American Journal of Psychiatry 136, 13101312.Google Scholar
Dodge, K. A. (1980). Social cognition and children's aggressive behavior. Child Development 51, 162172.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dodge, K. A. (1983). Behavioral antecedents of peer social status. Child Development 54, 13861399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, J. & Kendrick, C. (1982). Siblings. Love, Envy and Understanding. Grant McIntyre: London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenberg, L. (1977). Development as a unifying concept in psychiatry. British Journal of Psychiatry 131, 225237.Google Scholar
Folstein, S. & Rutter, M. (1977). Infantile autism: a genetic study of 21 twin pairs. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 18, 297321.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garmezy, N. & Rutter, M. (1985). Acute stress reactions. In Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Modern Approaches (ed. Rutter, M. and Hersov, L.), pp. 152176. Blackwell Scientific: Oxford.Google Scholar
Goodyer, I., Kolvin, I. & Gatzanis, S. (1985) Recent undesirable life events and psychiatric disorder in childhood and adolescence. British Journal of Psychiatry (in the press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, P. J. & Stevenson, J. (1985). A twin study of genetic influences on behavioral deviance. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry 24, 3341CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Graham, P. J., Rutter, M. & George, S. (1973). Temperamental characteristics as predictors of behavior disorders in children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 43, 328339.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gray, G., Smith, A. & Rutter, M. (1980). School attendance and the first year of employment. In Out of School: Modern Perspectives in Truancy and School Refusal (ed. Hersov, L and Berg, I.), pp. 343370. Wiley: Chichester.Google Scholar
Guze, S. B. (1983). Child psychiatry, taking stock. In Childhood Psychopathology and Development (ed. Guze, S. B., Earls, F. J. and Barrett, J. E.), pp. 203210. Raven Press: New York.Google Scholar
Hanson, D. R., Gottesman, I. I. & Heston, L. L. (1976). Some possible childhood indicators of adult schizophrenia inferred from children of schizophrenics. British Journal of Psychiatry 129, 142154.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hawton, K. & Goldacre, M. (1982). Hospital admissions for adverse effects of medicinal agents (mainly self-poisoning) among adolescents in the Oxford region. British Journal of Psychiatry 141, 166170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hay, D. F. (1984). Social conflict in early childhood. In Annals of Child Development, Vol 1 (ed. Whitehurst, G. J.), pp. 144. JAI Press: Greenwich, Conn.Google Scholar
Hermelin, B. & O'Connor, N. (1970). Psychological Experiments with Autistic Children. Pergamon: Oxford.Google Scholar
Hobson, R. P. (1984). Early childhood autism and the question of egocentrism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 14, 85104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hobson, R. P. (1985). The autistic child's appraisal of expressions of emotion: an experimental investigation. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (in the press).Google Scholar
Kagan, J. (1984). The Nature of the Child. Basic Books: New York.Google Scholar
Kagan, J., Reznick, J. S., Clarke, C., Snidman, N. & Garcia-Coll, C. (1984). Behavioral inhibition to the unfamiliar. Child Development 55, 22122225.Google Scholar
Kanner, L. (1943). Autistic disturbances of affective contact. Nervous Child 2, 217250.Google Scholar
Kanner, L. (1959). The thirty-third Maudsley lecture: trends in child psychiatry. Journal of Mental Science 105, 581593.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kaplan, S. L., Hong, G. K. & Weinhold, C. (1984). Epidemiology of depressive symptomatology in adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry 23, 9198.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kolakowska, T., Williams, A O., Ardern, M., Reveley, M. A., Jambor, K., Gelder, M G. & Mandelbrote, B. M. (1985). Schizophrenia with good and poor outcome. I. Early clinical features, response to neuroleptics and signs of organic dysfunction. British Journal of Psychiatry 146, 229239.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kolvin, I. (1971). Psychoses in childhood – a comparative study. In Infantile Autism Concepts, Characteristics and Treatment (ed. Rutter, M.), pp. 726. Churchill Livingstone: London.Google Scholar
Kovacs, M. (1985). A developmental perspective on methods and measures in the assessment of depressive disorders: the clinical interview. In Depression in Young People: Developmental and Clinical Perspectives (ed. Rutter, M., Izard, C. and Read, P.), pp. 435478. Guilford Press: New York (in the press).Google Scholar
Lamb, M. E. (1978). Qualitative aspects of mother–and father–infant attachments. Infant Behaviour and Development 1, 265275.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, S. W. & Mezey, G. C. (1985). Clinical correlates of septum pellucidum cavities: an unusual association with psychosis. Psychological Medicine 15, 4354.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McClure, G. M. C. (1984). Recent trends in suicide amongst the young. British Journal of Psychiatry 144, 134138.Google Scholar
Maccoby, E. E. (1984). Socialization and developmental change. Child Development 55, 317328.Google Scholar
Main, M. & Weston, D. R. (1981). The quality of the toddler's relationship to mother and to father: related to conflict behaviour and the readiness to establish new relationships. Child Development 52, 932940.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Makita, K. (1966). The age of onset of childhood schizophrenia. Folia Psychiatrica Neurologia Japonica 20, 111121.Google Scholar
Maughan, B. & Rutter, M. (1985 a). Black pupils' progress in secondary school. II. Examination attainments. British Journal of Developmental Psychology (in the press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maughan, B. & Rutter, M. (1985 b). Education: improving practice through increasing understanding. In Research Action for Children, Youth and Families (ed. Rapoport, R.). Cambridge University Press: Cambridge (in the press).Google Scholar
Maughan, B., Dunn, G. & Rutter, M. (1985). Black pupil's progress in secondary school. I. Reading progress 10–14. British Journal of Developmental Psychology 3, 113121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merikangas, K. R., Weissman, M. M. & Pauls, D. L. (1985). Genetic factors in the sex ratio of major depression Psychological Medicine 15, 6370.Google Scholar
Minton, J., Campbell, M., Green, W. H., Jennings, S & Samit, C. (1982). Cognitive assessment of siblings of autistic children. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry 21, 256261.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murray, R. M., Lewis, S. W. & Reveley, A. M. (1985). Towards an aetiological classification of schizophrenia. Lancet i, 10231026.Google Scholar
Owens, D. G. C., Johnstone, E. C., Crow, T. J., Frith, C. D., Jagoe, J. R. & Kreel, L. (1985). Lateral ventricular size in schizophrenia: relationship to the disease process and its clinical manifestations. Psychological Medicine 15, 2742.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parke, R. D. & Slaby, R. G. (1983). The development of aggression. In Socialization, Personality, and Social Development, Vol. 4, Handbook of Child Psychology (4th edn) (ed. Hetherington, E. M.), pp. 547641. Wiley: New York.Google Scholar
Patterson, G. R. (1982). Coercive Family Process. Castalia Publishing: Eugene, Oregon.Google Scholar
Pearce, J. (1978). The recognition of depressive disorder in children. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 71, 494500.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Philips, I., Cohen, R. L. & Enzer, N. B. (1983). Child Psychiatry: A Plan for the Coming Decades. American Academy of Child Psychiatry: Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Puig-Antich, J. (1982). Major depression and conduct disorder in prepuberty. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 21, 118128Google Scholar
Puig-Antich, J. (1985). Effects of age and puberty on psychobiological markers of depressive illness. In Depression in Young People: Developmental and Clinical Perspectives (ed. Rutter, M., Izard, C. and Read, P.), pp. 341396. Guilford Press: New York (in the press)Google Scholar
Puig-Antich, J., Lukens, E., Davies, M., Goetz, D., Brennan-Quattrock, J. & Todak, G. (1985). Psychosocial functioning in prepubertal major depressive disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry 42, 500517.Google Scholar
Quinton, D. (1984). Adverse childhood experiences and the psychosocial functioning of women in early adulthood. PhD Thesis: University of London.Google Scholar
Quinton, D., Rutter, M. & Liddle, C. (1984). Institutional rearing, parenting difficulties, and marital support. Psychological Medicine 14, 102124.Google Scholar
Richman, N., Stevenson, J. & Graham, P. J. (1982). Preschool to School: A Behavioural Study. Academic Press: London.Google Scholar
Riikonen, R. & Amnell, G. (1981). Psychiatric disorders in children with earlier infantile spasms. Developments in Medicine and Child Neurology 23, 747760.Google Scholar
Roy, P. (1983). Is continuity enough? Substitute care and socialization.Paper presented at the Spring Scientific Meeting, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Specialist Section, Royal College of Psychiatrists,London,March 1983.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1970). Autistic children: infancy to adulthood. Seminars in Psychiatry 2, 435450.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1972). Childhood schizophrenia reconsidered. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia 2, 315337.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1974). The development of infantile autism. Psychological Medicine 4, 147163.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1978). Family, area and school influences in the genesis of conduct disorders. In Aggression and Antisocial Behaviour in Childhood and Adolescence (ed. Hersov, L., Berger, M. and Shaffer, D.), pp. 95113. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Book Series No. 1. Pergamon: Oxford.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1979 a). Changing Youth in a Changing Society Patterns of Adolescent Development and Disorder. Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust: London. (Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Mass. 1980.)Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1979 b). Autism: psychopathological mechanisms and therapeutic approaches. In Cognitive Growth and Development: Essays in Memory of Herbert G Birch (ed. Bortner, M.), pp. 273299. Brunner/Mazel: New York.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1980). Introduction. In Scientific Foundations of Developmental Psychiatry (ed. Rutter, M.), pp. 17. Heinemann Medical: London.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1981 a). Maternal Deprivation Reassessed. Penguin: Harmondsworth.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1981 b). Stress, coping and development: some issues and some questions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 22, 323356.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1982). Psychological therapies: issues and prospects. Psychological Medicine 12, 8994.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1983 a). Cognitive deficits in the pathogenesis of autism Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 24, 513531.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (ed.) (1983 b). Developmental Neuropsychiatry. Guilford Press: New York.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1983 c). Statistical and personal interactions: facets and perspectives. In Human Development: An Interactional Perspective (ed. Magnusson, D. and Allen, V.), pp. 295319. Academic Press: New York.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1984 a). Continuities and discontinuities in socio-emotional development: empirical and conceptual perspectives. In Continuities and Discontinuities in Development, (ed. Emde, R. and Harmon, R.), pp. 4168. Plenum: New York.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1984 b). Psychopathology and development: I. Childhood antecedents of adult psychiatric disorder. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 18, 225234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M. (1984 c). Psychopathology and development: II. Childhood experiences and personality development. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 18, 314327.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1984 d). ‘Project Future’: the way forward for child psychiatry? Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry 23, 577581.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1985 a). The developmental psychopathology of depression. In Depression in Young People Developmental and Clinical Perspectives (ed. Rutter, M., Izard, C. and Read, P.), pp. 330. Guilford Press: New York (in the press).Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1985 b). Depressive feelings, cognitions and disorders: a research postscript. In Depression in Young People: Developmental and Clinical Perspectives (ed. Rutter, M., Izard, C. and Read, P.), pp. 491519. Guilford Press: New York (in the press).Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1985 c). Family and school influences on behavioural development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 26, 349368.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1985 d). Family and school influences on cognitive development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (in the press).Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1985 e). Family and school influences: meanings, mechanisms and implications. In Longitudinal Studies in Child Psychology and Psychiatry: Practical Lessons from Research Experience (ed. Nicol, A. R.), pp. 357403. Wiley: Chichester.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1985 f). Resilience in the face of adversity: protective factors and resistance to psychiatric disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry 147 (in the press).Google Scholar
Rutter, M. & Garmezy, N. (1983). Developmental psychopathology. In Socialization, Personality, and Social Development, Vol. 4, Handbook of Child Psychology (ed. Hetherington, E. M.), pp. 775911. Wiley: New York.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. & Giller, H. (1983). Juvenile Delinquency: Trends and Perspectives. Penguin: Harmondsworth.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. & Madge, N. (1976). Cycles of Disadvantage: A Review of Research. Heinemann Educational: London.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. & Quinton, D. (1984). Parental psychiatric disorder: effects on children. Psychological Medicine 14, 853880.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. & Quinton, D. (1985). Parental mental illness as a risk factor for psychiatric disorders in childhood. In Psychopathology in the Perspective of Person-Environment Interaction (ed. Magnusson, D. and Ohman, A.). Academic Press: New York.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. & Schopler, E. (1986). Autism and pervasive developmental disorders: concepts and diagnostic issues. In Assessment, Diagnosis and Classification in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ed. Tuma, H., Lann, I. and Rutter, M.). Guilford Press: New York (in the press).Google Scholar
Rutter, M., Tizard, J. & Whitmore, K. (eds.) (1970). Education, Health and Behaviour. Longmans: London. (Reprinted 1981, Krieger: Huntington, N.Y.)Google Scholar
Rutter, M., Cox., A., Tupling, C., Berger, M. & Yule, W. (1975 a). Attainment and adjustment in two geographical areas. I. The prevalence of psychiatric disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry 126, 493509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutter, M., Yule, B., Quinton, D., Rowlands, O., Yule, W. & Berger, M. (1975 b). Attainment and adjustment in two geographical areas. III. Some factors accounting for area differences. British Journal of Psychiatry 126, 520533.Google Scholar
Rutter, M., Tizard, J., Yule, W., Graham, P. & Whitmore, K. (1976). Research report: Isle of Wight Studies 1964–1974. Psychological Medicine 6, 313332.Google Scholar
Rutter, M., Maughan, B., Mortimore, P., Ouston, J. with Smith, A. (1979). Fifteen Thousand Hours: Secondary Schools and their Effects on Children. Open Books: London. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Rutter, M., Izard, C. & Read, P. (eds.) (1985). Depression in Young People: Developmental and Clinical Perspectives. Guilford Press: New York (in the press).Google Scholar
Schulsinger, F., Parnas, J., Petersen, E. T., Schulsinger, H., Teasdale, T. W., Mednick, S., Moller, L. & Silverton, L. (1984). Cerebral ventricular size in the offspring of schizophrenic mothers. Archives of General Psychiatry 14, 602606.Google Scholar
Shaffer, D. (1985). Developmental factors in child and adolescent suicide. In Depression in Young People: Developmental and Clinical Perspectives (ed. Rutter, M., Izard, C. and Read, P.), pp. 383396. Guilford Press: New York (in the press).Google Scholar
Spiker, D. & Ricks, M. (1984). Visual self-recognition in autistic children: developmental relationships. Child Development 55, 214225.Google Scholar
Sroufe, L. A. & Rutter, M. (1984). The domain of developmental psychopathology. Child Development 55, 1729.Google Scholar
Sroufe, L. A., Fox, N. E. & Pancake, V. R. (1983). Attachment and dependency in developmental perspective. Child Development 54, 16151627.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stewart, A. (1983). Severe perinatal hazards. In Developmental Neuropsychiatry (ed. Rutter, M.), pp. 1531. Churchill Livingstone: London.Google Scholar
Tanguay, P. E. (1984). Toward a new classification of serious psychopathology in children. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry 23, 373384.Google Scholar
Tizard, B. (1977). Adoption: A Second Chance. Open Books: London.Google Scholar
Tizard, B. & Hodges, J. (1978). The effect of early institutional rearing on the development of eight-year-old children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 19, 99118.Google Scholar
Warren, W. (1974). The third Kenneth Cameron memorial lecture. Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals, London, 07 1974.Google Scholar
Watson, M. S., Leckman, J. F., Annex, B., Breg, W. R., Boles, D., Volkmar, F. R., Cohen, D. J. & Carter, C. (1984). Fragile X in a survey of 75 autistic males. New England Journal of Medicine 310, 1462.Google Scholar
Weissman, M. M., Wickramaratne, P., Merikangas, K. R., Leckman, J. F., Prusoff, B. A., Caruso, K. A., Kidd, K. K. & Gammon, C. D. (1984). Onset of major depression in early adulthood: increased familial loading and specificity. Archives of General Psychiatry 41, 11361143.Google Scholar
Williams, A. O., Reveley, M. A., Kolakowska, T., Ardern, M. & Mandelbrote, B. M. (1985). Schizophrenia with good and poor outcome. II. Cerebral ventricular size and its clinical significance. British Journal of Psychiatry 146, 239246.Google Scholar
Wing, L. (1981). Asperger's syndrome: a clinical account. Psychological Medicine 11, 115130.Google Scholar
Wing, L. & Gould, J. (1979). Severe impairments of social interaction and associated abnormalities in children: epidemiology and classification. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 9, 1130.Google Scholar
Wolff, S. & Barlow, A. (1979). Schizoid personality in childhood: a comparative study of schizoid, autistic and normal children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 20, 1946.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zahn-Waxler, C., Cummings, E. M. & Cooperman, G. (1984). Emotional development in childhood. In Annals of Child Development, Vol. 1 (ed. Whitehurst, G. J.), pp. 45106. JAI Press: Greenwich, Conn.Google Scholar
Zeitlin, H. (1985). The Natural History of Psychiatric Disorder in Childhood. Institute of Psychiatry, Maudsley Monograph. Oxford University Press: London (in the press).Google Scholar