The Emergence of Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Special issues of Child Development are somewhat rare occurrences, and, as such, they mark significant and noteworthy points in the development and maturation of a scientific discipline. In recent months, we have seen special issues on early adolescent development (December 1982), developmental behavioral genetics (April 1983), and high-risk infants (October 1983). In each of these instances, the special issues of Child Development marked a kind of coming of age of these disciplines-a time of consolidation, a time when impressive but scattered interdisciplinary results could be collected, combined, and transformed into a unified discipline having its own history, integrity, and program for the future.