In this article, we celebrate Dante Cicchetti’s extensive contributions to the discipline of developmental psychopathology. In his seminal article, he articulated why developmental psychopathology was imperative to create research portfolios that could inform the causes, consequences, and trajectories for adults often initiated by early lived experiences (Cicchetti, 1984). In this three-part article, we share our transdisciplinary efforts to use developmental psychopathology as a foundational theory from which to develop, implement, and evaluate interventions for populations who experienced early adversity or who were at risk for child abuse and neglect. After describing interventions conducted at Mt. Hope Family Center that spanned over three decades, we highlight the criticality of disseminating results and address policy implications of this work. We conclude by discussing future directions to facilitate work in developmental psychopathology. Currently, one of three national National Institute of Child Health and Human Development-funded child abuse and neglect centers, we look forward to continuing to build upon Dante’s efforts to disseminate this important work to improve society for our children, our nation’s often most vulnerable and forgotten citizens.

Developmental psychopathology started as an intersection of fields and is now a field itself. As we contemplate the future of this field, we consider the ways in which a newer, interdisciplinary field – human developmental neuroscience – can inform, and be informed by, developmental psychopathology. To do so, we outline principles of developmental psychopathology and how they are and/or can be implemented in developmental neuroscience. In turn, we highlight how the collaboration between these fields can lead to richer models and more impactful translation. In doing so, we describe the ways in which models from developmental psychopathology can enrich developmental neuroscience and future directions for developmental psychopathology.

This multi-method longitudinal study sought to investigate linkage in parental neuroendocrine functioning – indicated by cortisol – over two measurement occasions. In addition, we examined how parental cortisol linkage may operate as an intermediate factor in the cascade of contextual risks and parenting. Participants were 235 families with a young child (Mage = 33.56, 36.00 years for mothers and fathers respectively), who were followed for two annual measurement occasions. Parental cortisol linkage was measured around a laboratory conflict discussion task at both measurement occasions (i.e., pre-discussion, 20- and 40-minute post-discussion for each measurement occasion). Maternal and paternal parenting behavior was observed during a parent-child discipline discussion task. Findings indicated similar levels of cortisol linkage between parents over the two measurement occasions. Furthermore, cortisol linkage between parents operated as an intermediate factor between contextual risks and more compromised parenting behavior. That is, greater contextual risks, indicated by greater neighborhood risk and interparental conflict, were linked to greater cortisol linkage between parents over time, which was in turn linked to greater authoritarian parenting during parent-child interaction. Findings highlighted the importance of understanding physiological-linkage processes with respect to the impact of contextual risks on family functioning and may have crucial implications for clinical work.

To determine the validity of parent reports (PRs) of ADHD in preschoolers, we assessed hyperactivity/impulsivity (HI) and inattention (IN) in 1114 twins with PRs at 1.5, 2.5, 4, 5, 14, 15, and 17 years, and teacher-reports at 6, 7, 9, 10, and 12. We examined if preschool PRs (1) predict high HI/IN trajectories, and (2) capture genetic contributions to HI/IN into adolescence. Group-based trajectory analyses identified three 6–17 years trajectories for both HI and IN, including small groups with high HI (N = 88, 10.4%, 77% boys) and IN (N = 158, 17.3%, 75% boys). Controlling for sex, each unit of HI PRs starting at 1.5 years and at 4 years for IN, increased more than 2-fold the risk of belonging to the high trajectory, with incremental contributions (Odds Ratios = 2.5–4.5) at subsequent ages. Quantitative genetic analyses showed that genetic contributions underlying preschool PRs accounted for up to a quarter and a third of the heritability of later HI and IN, respectively. Genes underlying 1.5-year HI and 4-year IN contributed to 6 of 8 later HI and IN time-points and largely explained the corresponding phenotypic correlations. Results provide phenotypic and genetic evidence that preschool parent reports of HI and IN are valid means to predict developmental risk of ADHD.

Trait anxiety and attentional control are important factors related to depression symptoms. The study investigated how trait anxiety and attentional control predicted the trajectories of depression symptoms during the transition into early adolescence. The mediating effect of attentional control on the relationship of trait anxiety to the trajectories of depression symptoms was also examined. Children of 9 to 10 years were recruited at Time 1. Trait anxiety, attentional control, and depression symptoms were assessed at Time 1. Depression symptoms were measured at three follow-up assessments across 18 months. Latent class growth modeling revealed high (14.4%) and low (85.6%) trajectories of depression symptoms. Higher trait anxiety and lower attentional control predicted a higher likelihood of showing the trajectory of high depressive symptoms. Attentional control mediated the relationship of trait anxiety to the trajectory membership of depression symptoms. The findings had important implications for the association of trait anxiety with the trajectory membership of depression symptoms and highlighted the importance of attentional control in the development of depression symptoms for children with high trait anxiety.

The family stress model has, for decades, guided empirical work linking poverty with increased risk of child social-emotional dysfunction. The present study extends this line of work by examining whether child negative emotionality moderates associations between family income, family stress (maternal distress, parental locus of control, and relationship dissatisfaction), and later externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. In a longitudinal population-based sample (n ~ 80,000) of Norwegian children followed from birth through age five (The Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study; MoBa), we examined whether high (vs. moderate or low) negative emotionality families would display: (a) compounding stress (i.e., particularly strong associations between low family income and family stress), (b) diathesis-stress (i.e., particularly strong associations between family stress and behavior problems), or (c) double jeopardy (i.e., both compounding stress and diathesis-stress moderating effects). Negative emotionality significantly moderated the association between family income and behavior problems in a manner most consistent with double jeopardy. As a result, compared with children with moderate/low negative emotionality, the family income-behavior problems association was two to three times larger for those with higher negative emotionality. These findings underscore the active role children may play in family processes that link low family income with behavior problems.

Dante Cicchetti has had a lasting impact on our understanding of the development of externalizing psychopathology through at least two seminal contributions, including establishment of the field of developmental psychopathology and assertion of the hypothesis that early physical abuse and neglect trigger a cascade of maladaptive outcomes across the life course. These ideas have guided a program of research on children’s deviant social information processing and defensive mindset as the psychological mechanisms through which early physical abuse leads to long-term psychopathology. Longitudinal studies following children from early life through mid-adulthood show that physical abuse in the first five years of life leads children to adopt a defensive mindset that, in turn, cascades into long-term outcomes of externalizing psychopathology, incarceration, and dysfunction. Cicchetti’s ideas have also guided the development of preventive interventions to interrupt this life course.

Maternal insensitivity to children’s emotional distress (e.g., expressions of sadness or fearfulness) is one mechanism through which maternal alcohol dependence may increase children’s risk for psychopathology. Although emotion dysregulation is consistently associated with psychopathology, it remains unclear how or why alcohol dependence’s effects on caregiving responses to children’s distress may impact children’s emotion regulation over time, particularly in ways that may engender risks for psychopathology. This study examined longitudinal associations between lifetime maternal alcohol dependence symptoms, mothers’ insensitivity to children’s emotional distress cues, and children’s emotional reactivity among 201 mother-child dyads (Mchild age = 2.14 years; 56% Black; 11% Latino). Structural equation modeling analyses revealed a significant mediational pathway such that maternal alcohol dependence predicted increases in mothers’ insensitivity to children’s emotional distress across a one-year period (β = .16, p = .013), which subsequently predicted decreases in children’s emotional reactivity one year later (β = −.29, p = .009). Results suggest that mothers with alcohol dependence symptoms may struggle to sensitively respond to children’s emotional distress, which may prompt children to suppress or hide their emotions as an adaptive, protective strategy. The potential developmental benefits and consequences of early, protective expressive suppression strategies are discussed via developmental psychopathology frameworks.

Individual differences in sensitivity to context are posited to emerge early in development and to influence the effects of environmental exposures on a range of developmental outcomes. The goal of the current study was to examine the hypothesis that temperament characteristics and biological sex confer differential vulnerability to the effects of exposure to maternal depression on telomere length in early childhood. Telomere length has emerged as a potentially important biomarker of current and future health, with possible mechanistic involvement in the onset of various disease states. Participants comprised a community sample of children followed from infancy to age 3 years. Relative telomere length was assessed from DNA in saliva samples collected at infancy, 2 years, and 3 years. Maternal depressive symptoms and the child temperament traits of negative affectivity, surgency/extraversion, and regulation/effortful control were assessed via maternal report at each timepoint. Analyses revealed a 3-way interaction among surgency/extraversion, sex, and maternal depressive symptoms, such that higher surgency/extraversion was associated with shorter telomere length specifically among males exposed to elevated maternal depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that temperament and sex influence children’s susceptibility to the effects of maternal depression on telomere dynamics in early life.

This retrospective cohort study examined prosocial skills development in child welfare-involved children, how intimate partner violence (IPV) exposure explained heterogeneity in children’s trajectories of prosocial skill development, and the degree to which protective factors across children’s ecologies promoted prosocial skill development. Data were from 1,678 children from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being I, collected between 1999 and 2007. Cohort-sequential growth mixture models were estimated to identify patterns of prosocial skill development between the ages of 3 to 10 years. Four diverse pathways were identified, including two groups that started high (high subtle-decreasing; high decreasing-to-increasing) and two groups that started low (low stable; low increasing-to-decreasing). Children with prior history of child welfare involvement, preschool-age IPV exposure, school-age IPV exposure, or family income below the federal poverty level had higher odds of being in the high decreasing-to-increasing group compared with the high subtle-decreasing group. Children with a mother with greater than high school education or higher maternal responsiveness had higher odds of being in the low increasing-to-decreasing group compared with the low stable group. The importance of maternal responsiveness in fostering prosocial skill development underlines the need for further assessment and intervention. Recommendations for clinical assessment and parenting programs are provided.

Despite the well-established link between children’s executive function and behavioral adjustment, it remains unclear whether the hot and cool aspects of executive function are uniquely associated with children’s behavioral problems. Using longitudinal data spanning in the grade school (N = 1,140), this study aimed to examine whether hot and cool executive function skills may be uniquely related to the development of behavioral problems. Hot and cool executive function skills were measured with tasks, standardized tests, and questionnaires at 54 months and in the first grade, respectively. Internalizing and externalizing problems were evaluated by teachers using questionnaires throughout the grade school. The results indicated that, independent of each other, hot and cool executive function skills were uniquely and negatively related to the development of internalizing and externalizing problems over time at the between-individual level, adjusting for within-individual fluctuations. Moreover, internalizing and externalizing problems were positively related at the between-individual level across the grade school. Findings provide needed evidence to clarify the relations between hot and cool executive function and children’s behavioral problems, emphasizing the importance of both aspects of executive function in understanding the development of behavioral problems in school-age children.

Introduced in the context of developmental psychopathology by Cicchetti and Rogosh in the Journal, the current paper incorporates the principles of equifinality and multifinality to support the use of tiered models to prevent the development of emerging child psychopathology and promote school readiness in early childhood. We use the principles of equifinality and multifinality to describe the limitations of applying one intervention model to address all children presenting with different types of risk for early problem behavior. We then describe the potential benefits of applying a tiered model for having impacts at the population level and two initial applications of this approach during early childhood. The first of these tiered models, Smart Beginnings, integrates the use of two evidenced-based preventive interventions, Video Interaction Project, a universal parenting program, and Family Check-Up, a selective parenting program. Building on the strengths of Smart Beginnings, the second trial, The Pittsburgh Study includes Video Interaction Project and Family Check-Up, and other more and less-intensive programs to address the spectrum of challenges facing parents of young children. Findings from these two projects are discussed with their implications for developing tiered models to support children’s early development and mental health.

Studies show that war leads to an increase in harsh parenting and a decrease in parental warmth, which in turn has a devastating impact on children’s development. However, there is insufficient research on the factors that affect parenting in post-conflict regions. In addition, most previous studies on the role of parenting in the context of war rely on self-reports, which are subject to a number of limitations. To complement existing research, the present cross-sectional study used behavioral observations of 101 mothers and their 6–12 year old children to assess parenting in post-conflict northern Uganda. The aim of the current study was to explore associations between observed maternal warmth and coercion and self-reported socioeconomic status (e.g., mother’s educational level) as well as maternal (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder), child (e.g., externalizing problems), and social contextual factors (e.g., family violence). Results show a link between observed parenting, child characteristics, and family violence. Higher levels of children’s externalizing problems were associated with more severe maternal coercion. In addition, a negative association was found between family violence and maternal warmth. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for prevention and intervention programs and the use of behavioral observations in post-conflict environments.

Dante Cicchetti’s remarkable contributions to the field of developmental psychopathology include the advancement of key principles such as the interplay of typical and atypical development, multifinality and equifinality, the dynamic processes of resilience, and the integration of multiple levels of analysis into developmental theories. In this paper we assert that person-centered data analytic methods are particularly well-suited to advancing these tenets of developmental psychopathology. We illustrate their utility with a brief novel empirical study focused on underlying patterns of childhood neuroendocrine regulation and prospective links with emerging adult functioning. Results indicate that a childhood neuroendocrine profile marked by high diurnal cortisol paired with low diurnal DHEA was uniquely associated with more adaptive functioning in emerging adulthood. We discuss these findings, and person-centered methods more broadly, within the future of developmental psychopathology.

Developmental psychopathology has, since the late 20th century, offered an influential integrative framework for conceptualizing psychological health, distress, and dysfunction across the lifespan. Leaders in the field have periodically generated predictions about its future and have proposed ways to increase the macroparadigm’s impact. In this paper, we examine, using articles sampled from each decade of the journal Development and Psychopathology’s existence as a rough guide, the degree to which the themes that earlier predictions have emphasized have come to fruition and the ways in which the field might further capitalize on the strengths of this approach to advance knowledge and practice in psychology. We focus in particular on two key themes first, we explore the degree to which researchers have capitalized on the framework’s capacity for principled flexibility to generate novel work that integrates neurobiological and/or social-contextual factors measured at multiple levels and offer ideas for moving this kind of work forward. Second, we discuss how extensively articles have emphasized implications for intervention or prevention and how the field might amplify the voice of developmental psychopathology in applied settings.

Stress affects executive functions and exploring the association between stress-induced physiological reactivity and executive functions could highlight the potential mechanism of the stress-cognitive function link. Our study examined the linear and nonlinear associations between cardiovascular stress reactivity and cool and hot executive functions among adolescents. In November 2021 (T1), 273 Chinese adolescents between 11 and 14 (Mage = 12.93, SDage = 0.79) underwent a speech task during which their cardiovascular data were recorded, and they completed a Flanker task and an Emotional Stroop task. In May 2023 (T2), 253 adolescents again completed the Flanker and Emotional Stroop tasks. Cool and hot executive functions were assessed using the intra-individual reaction time variability of the Flanker task and Emotional Stroop task, respectively. Results showed that cardiovascular stress reactivity was positively linearly associated with cool executive functions at T1 and quadratically (inverted U-shaped) associated with cool executive functions at T1 and hot executive functions at T1 and T2. These findings suggest that compared to very high and very low cardiovascular reactivity, moderate to high cardiovascular reactivity to a structured social challenge is associated with better cool and hot executive functions.

Dante Cicchetti, the architect of developmental psychopathology, has influenced so many of us in profound ways. One of his many contributions was in demonstrating the power of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to study the effects of Child–Parent Psychotherapy (CPP). These RCTs have shed light on causal mechanisms in development. Following Cicchetti and colleagues’ work, we designed a brief home visiting program, Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC), to help parents respond in sensitive, nurturing ways, so as to enhance children’s attachment and self-regulatory capabilities. In the current study, we assessed adolescents’ reports of the closeness of their relationships with their mothers 12 years after their mothers completed the intervention. A total of 142 adolescents participated (47 randomized to ABC, 45 randomized to a control intervention, and 50 from a low-risk comparison group). Adolescents whose mothers had been randomized to ABC reported closer relationships with their mothers than adolescents randomized to the control condition, with significant differences seen on approval, support, companionship, and emotional support subscales. Consistent with Cicchetti et al.’s work, these results provide powerful evidence of the long-term effects of an early parenting intervention.

Research on serious mental disorders, particularly psychosis, has revealed highly variable symptom profiles and developmental trajectories prior to illness-onset. As Dante Cicchetti pointed out decades before the term “transdiagnostic” was widely used, the pathways to psychopathology emerge in a system involving equifinality and multifinality. Like most other psychological disorders, psychosis is associated with multiple domains of risk factors, both genetic and environmental, and there are many transdiagnostic developmental pathways that can lead to psychotic syndromes. In this article, we discuss our current understanding of heterogeneity in the etiology of psychosis and its implications for approaches to conceptualizing etiology and research. We highlight the need for examining risk factors at multiple levels and to increase the emphasis on transdiagnostic developmental trajectories as a key variable associated with etiologic subtypes. This will be increasingly feasible now that large, longitudinal datasets are becoming available and researchers have access to more sophisticated analytic tools, such as machine learning, which can identify more homogenous subtypes with the ultimate goal of enhancing options for treatment and preventive intervention.

Developmental psychopathology has successfully advanced an understanding of risk and protective factors in multivariate models. However, many areas have relied on top-down approaches that define psychological constructs based largely or solely on their physical form. In this paper, we first describe how top-down approaches have significantly hindered progress by generating generic risk and protective models that yield little more than the conclusion that axiomatically positive and negative factors respectively beget an interchangeable array of positive and negative child sequelae. To advance precision and novelty as central priorities, we describe behavioral systems frameworks rooted in evolutionary theory that infuse both form (i.e., what it looks like) and function (what it is designed to do) into psychological constructs. We further address how this paradigm has generated new growing points for developmental models of interparental relationships and parenting. In the final section, we provide recommendations for expanding this approach to other areas of developmental psychopathology. Throughout the paper, we document how the focus on functional patterns of behavior in well-defined developmental contexts advance precision and novelty in understanding children’s response processes to threats, opportunities, and challenges in associations between their developmental histories and their psychological sequelae.