DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
Spring 2003
Psychology 351/551
Monday 1-4 PM

Marc Schulz
209 West House
527-5190
mschulz@brynmawr.edu

Link to Course Blackboard Page

Office Hours: 4-5 Thursday and by appointment

Course Overview:

This course will provide an overview of the field of developmental psychopathology. Developmental psychopathology is concerned with the origins and progression of patterns of maladaptive behavior across the lifespan. This course examines the processes that help to explain why some individuals develop psychological difficulties and others do not.

Readings and class lectures and discussions will introduce you to a range of theories and research strategies used by psychologists studying developmental psychopathology. Emphasis will be placed on helping you become a critical reader of the research literature and on familiarizing you with important biological and psychosocial theoretical perspectives in the field. Major forms of childhood psychopathology and known risk factors for psychopathology will be used to illustrate developmental psychopathology perspectives in action. We will also consider how developmental psychopathology research can inform and learn from intervention efforts, particularly preventive interventions.

Course Format and Requirements:

Class meetings will be a mix of lecture, discussion, and small-group exercises. Regular attendance and participation are expected.

Requirements:

  1. Class Participation and Readings (completed prior to class)
  2. Blackboard discussion questions/topics: Three times over the course of the semester (weeks to be assigned), each of you will post 2 questions, issues, critiques or reactions stimulated by the readings. The postings should be substantive enough to provide good topics for discussion. You are welcome to incorporate critiques or reactions to the readings or to submit questions or issues for us to ponder. Particularly useful are attempts to integrate across readings. All postings should reflect careful consideration of the reading. If you raise a question, you might try to begin to suggest how we might answer the question.

    3. You must post your discussion questions on Blackboard by Friday at noon before the class meets. For one class this semester, you will also be the discussion guide. Your role as the guide will be to read through the posted discussion questions and to select the 2 or 3 that you would most like the class to consider and to post these or an edited summary of these on Blackboard.

    Your posted discussion questions, role as discussion guide, general participation in class, and class presentation of your final paper at the poster symposium will count for 15% of your final grade. Discussion questions posted after the Friday at Noon Deadline will be penalized substantially.

  3. Midterm Exam: Take Home (20% of grade)
  4. Task Force Topic Proposal with three annotated bibliographies and list of references (8% of grade)
  5. Poster presentation, paper write-up, and participation in a Task Force (32% of grade)
  6. Final Exam: Take Home (25% of grade)
Accommodations:
Students who think they may need accommodations in this course because of the impact of a disability should contact Stephanie Bell, Coordinator of Access Services, at 610-526-7351 in Canwyll House to verify their eligibility for reasonable accommodations. Early contact and verification is critical to avoiding unnecessary complications, problems and delays. You are also encouraged to meet with me privately early in the semester to discuss your needs.

Week 1: January 20 Overview of Developmental Psychopathology

Developmental Psychopathology and Martin Luther King Day

Weisz, J. R., McCarty, C. A., Eastman, K. L., Chaiyasit, W., & Suwanlert, S. (1997). Developmental psychopathology and culture: Ten lessons from Thailand. In S. S. Luthar, J. A. Burack, D. Cicchetti, & J. R. Weisz (Eds.), Developmental Psychopathology: Perspectives on Adjustment, Risk, and Disorder . New York: Cambridge University Press. (available on e-reserve)

Reference (not required reading): Clark, R., Anderson, N.B., Clark, V.R., & Williams, D.R. (1999). Racism as a stressor for African Americans: A biopsychosocial model. American Psychologist, 54, 805-816.

Week 2: January 27 Defining and Assessing Psychopathology: Categories, Dimensions and Dysfunction

(all readings this week available on e-reserve)

Cantwell, D.P. (1996). Classification of child and adolescent psychopathology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 37, 3-12.

Wakefield, J.C. (1997). When is development disordered? Developmental psychopathology and the harmful dysfunction analysis of mental disorder. Development and Psychopathology, 9, 269-290.

Jensen, P.S. & Hoagwood, K. (1997). The book of names: DSM-IV in context. Development and Psychopathology, 9, 231-249.

Achenbach, T.M. (1995). Empirically based assessment and taxonomy: Applications to clinical research. Psychological Assessment, 7, 261-274.

Week 3: February 3 Developmental Psychopathology Perspectives on Dysfunction and Etiology: Risk, Resilience, Pathways and Multifactorial Models

(all readings this week available on e-reserve)

Kazdin, A.E. & Kagan, J. (1994). Models of Dysfunction in Developmental Psychopathology. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 1, 35-52.

Cowan, P.A., Cowan, C.P., & Schulz, M.S. (1996). Thinking about risk and resilience in families. In E.M. Hetherington & E. Blechman (eds.), Stress, coping, and resiliency in children and families. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Read pages 1-17.

Werner, E.E. (1995). Resilience in development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4, 81-85.

Cowan, P.A. (1988). Developmental Psychopathology: A Nine-Cell Map of the Territory. In E. Nannis & P.A. Cowan (eds.), Developmental Psychopathology and Its Treatment. (pp. 5-29). New Directions for Child Development, no. 39. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Coie, J.D., et al. (1993). The science of prevention: a conceptual framework and some directions for a national research program. American Psychologist, 48, 1013-1022.

Week 4: February 10 Internalizing Problems in Childhood I: Causing and Preventing Depression

"Disorders in the Depressive Spectrum" (pages 143-159) in Wenar, C., & Kerig, P. (2000). Developmental Psychopathology: From Infancy through Adolescence. (Fourth ed.). Boston: McGraw Hill.

Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1994). An interactive model for the emergence of gender differences in depression in adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 4, 519-534.

Cicchetti, D. & Toth, S.L. (1998). The development of depression in children and adolescents. American Psychologist, 53, 221-241. (This article can be skimmed. Pay attention to multifactorial and developmental perspectives.)

Shatte, A. J., Reivich, K., Gillham, J. E., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1999). Learned optimism in children. In C. R. Snyder (Ed.), Coping: The psychology of what works (pp. 165-181). New York: Oxford.

Week 5: February 17 Internalizing Problems in Childhood II: Regulating Emotion and Navigating Adolescence

Snyder, C. R., & Dinoff, B. L. (1999). Coping: Where have you been? In C. R. Snyder (Ed.), Coping: The psychology of what works (pp. 3-19). New York: Oxford.

Thompson, R.A. & Calkins, S.D. (1996). The double-edged sword: Emotion regulation for children at risk. Development and Psychopathology, 8, 163-182.

Kobak, R. & Ferenz-Gillies, R. (1995). Emotion regulation and depressive symptoms during adolescence: A functionalist perspective. Developmental and Psychopathology, 7, 183-192.

Powers, S.I. & Welsh, D.P. (1999). Mother-daughter interactions and adolescent girl's depression. In M.J. Cox & J. Brooks-Gunn (ed.), Conflict and cohesion in families: Causes and consequences. Advances in Family Research, 243-281.

Week 6: February 24 Family Processes and Risk I: Parental Depression and Functioning as a Risk Factor for Children's Development

Take Home Midterm Distributed at end of Class

Beardslee, W.R., Versage, E.M., Wright, E.J., Salt, P., Rothberg, P.C., Drezner, K., & Gladstone, T.R.G. (1997). Examination of preventive interventions for families with depression: Evidence of change. Development and Psychopathology, 9, 109-130.

Dawson, G., Frey, K., Panagiotides, H., Osterling, J. & Hessel, D. (1997). Infants of depressed mothers exhibit atypical frontal brain activity: A replication and extension of previous findings. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 38, 179-186.

Radke-Yarrow, M. & Sherman, T. (1990). Hard growing: children who survive. In J. Rolf, A.S. Masten, D. Cicchetti, K.H. Nuechterlein, & S. Weintraub (eds.), Risk and protective factors in the development of psychopathology. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Week 7: March 3 Externalizing Problems in Childhood I. Conduct Disorder and Antisocial Personality: Trajectories of Dysfunction, Being Bad vs. Being Disordered, and Distortions in Processing

Take Home Midterm due in West House by Noon on Friday, March 7th

Richters, J.E. & Cicchetti, D. (1993). Mark Twain meets DSM-III-R: Conduct disorder, development, and the concept of harmful dysfunction. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 5-29.

Dodge, K.A. (1991). Emotion and social information processing. In J. Garber & K.A. Dodge (eds.), The development of emotion regulation and dysregulation. NY: Cambridge University Press.

Moffitt, T.E., Caspi, A., Dickson, N., Silva, P., & Stanton, W. (1996). Childhood-onset versus adolescent-onset antisocial conduct problems in males: Natural history from ages 3 to 18 years. Development and Psychopathology, 8, 399-424.

Moffitt, T. E., & Caspi, A. (2001). Childhood predictors differentiate life-course persistent and adolescence-limited antisocial pathways among males and females. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 355-375.

March 10: Spring Break

Week 8: March 17 Externalizing Problems II: Etiology Continued & Opportunities for Intervention

Dodge, K.A. (1993). The future of research on the treatment of conduct disorder. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 311-319.

Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (1999). Initial impact of the FAST TRACK prevention trial for conduct problems: I. The high-risk sample. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 631-647.

Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group (1999). Initial impact of the FAST TRACK prevention trial for conduct problems: II. Classroom effects. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 648-657.

Week 9: March 24 Family Risk Processes II: Consequences of Marital Conflict and Divorce for
Children's Development

Amato, P.R. & Keith, B. (1991). Parental divorce and the well-being of children: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 26-46.

Booth, A., & Amato, P. R. (2001). Parental predivorce relations and offspring postdivorce well-being. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 63(1), 197-212.

Wallerstein, J.S. & Blakeslee, S. (1989). Second chances: Men, women, and children a decade after divorce. NY: Tichnor & Fields, chapters 6 & 18.

Week 10: March 31 Family Risk Processes III: Processes Linking Marital Difficulties and Children's Functioning

Deadline for Outline of Poster Topic and Annotated Bibliographies

Davies, P. & Cummings, E.M. (1994). Marital conflict and child adjustment: An emotional security hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 387-411.

Katz, L. F. (2001). Physiological processes as mediators of the impact of marital conflict on children. In J. H. Grych & F. D. Fincham (Eds.), Interpersonal conflict and child development: Theory, research and application (pp. 188-212). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Week 11: April 7 Applied Developmental Psychopathology and Prevention Science: Marital Difficulties and Marriage Strengthening Programs

Fincham, F.D. (1998). Child development and marital relations. Child Development, 69, 543-574.

Gottman, J.M. (1998). Psychology and the study of marital processes. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 169-197.

Markman, H., Stanley, S., & Blumberg, S.L. (1994). Fighting for your marriage. Chapters 4 & 5, pp. 75-115. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Silliman, B., Stanley, S. M., Coffin, W., Markman, H. J., & Jordan, P. L. (2002). Preventive interventions for couples. In H. A. Liddle, D. A. Santisteban, R. F. Levant, & J. H. Bray (Eds.), Family psychology: Science-based interventions (pp. 123-146). Washington, DC: APA.

Week 12: April 14 Stressful Events: Neglect and Abuse: Coping and Consequences

Jannoff-Bulman, R. (1999). Rebuilding shattered assumptions after traumatic life events: Coping processes and outcomes. In C. R. Snyder (Ed.), Coping: The psychology of what works (pp. 305-323). New York: Oxford University Press.

Rind, B. Tromovitch, P., & Bauserman, R. (1998). A meta-analytic examination of assumed properties of child sexual abuse using college samples. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 22-53.

Fergusson, D.M., Horwood, J., & Lynskey, M.T. (1996). Childhood sexual abuse and psychiatric disorder in young adulthood: II. Psychiatric outcomes of childhood sexual abuse. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 34, 1355-1364.

Week 13: April 21 Poster Symposia of Prevention Task Forces I

Week 14: April 28 Poster Symposia of Prevention Task Forces II