Abnormal Child Psychology 2

Question 1

What 3 features are associated with a a Psychological disorder?

Answer 1

• Distress
• Impairment/limitations in functioning
• Increased risk of further suffering or harm

Question 2

What is a Psychological Disorder?

Answer 2

A pattern of behavioral, cognitive, emotional or physical symptoms shown by the individual

Question 3

What features are associated with abnormality in children

Answer 3

Impairment in adaptive functioning, dysfunctional behavior

• Exaggerations of otherwise normal emotions, behaviors, or cognitive processes
• Poor adaptation to an environment
• Impairment in developmental progress
• Deviations from the norm.

Question 4

True or False: Stigmatization is a challenge

Answer 4

True

Question 5

Why do we need to be careful of labels especially when it concerns a child?

Answer 5

“Labeling a child can exacerbate negative academic evaluations, behavioral evaluations, evaluations of personality, and overall assessments of the child”.

Question 6

What must definitions of abnormal child behavior take into consideration

Answer 6

The child’s level of competence

Question 7

What is Competence?

Answer 7

• The ability to successfully adapt in the environment
• Successful adaptation is influenced by culture and ethnicity

Question 8

What are Developmental Tasks necessary for?

Answer 8

• Allow us to
  understand if a
  child is doing well
• Understand experiences and behaviors within
  broad domains

Question 9

What are the Developmental Tasks of Infancy to Preschool?

Answer 9

• Attachment to caregiver
• Language
• Differentiation of self from environment

Question 10

What are the Developmental Tasks of Middle Childhood?

Answer 10

• Self control and compliance
• School adjustment - attendance and appropriate conduct
• Academic achievement
• Getting along with peers?
• Rule governed conduct

Question 11

What are the Developmental Tasks of Adolescence?

Answer 11

• Successful transition to secondary schooling
• academic achievement
• involvement in extracurricular activities
• Forming close friendships within and across gender
• Forming a cohesive sense of self identity

Question 12

What are Developmental Pathways?

Answer 12

An active and dynamic sequence and timing of certain behaviors and relationships between these behaviors over time

Question 13

What is Multifinality?

Answer 13

Similar early experiences lead to different outcomes.

Question 14

What is Equifinality?

Answer 14

Different factors lead to a similar outcome

Question 15

What is a Risk Factor?

Answer 15

a variable that precedes a negative outcome of interest

Question 16

What is a Protective Factor?

Answer 16

a personal or situational variables that mitigates a child developing a disorder

Question 17

What is Resilience?

Answer 17

• The ability to fight off or recover from misfortune
• Associated with strong self-confidence, coping skills, avoiding risk situations

Question 18

What is the “protective triad” of resources?

Answer 18

• Strength of the child
• Strength of the family
• Strength of the school/community

Question 19

What is Developmental Psychopathology?

Answer 19

Approach to describing and studying disorders of childhood, adolescence and beyond in a manner that emphasizes the importance of developmental processes and tasks.

Question 20

What are the Three Prominent Assumptions in Developmental Psychopathology?

Answer 20

1. Abnormal development is multiply determined.
2. Child and environment are interdependent and Transactional
3. Abnormal development involves continuities and discontinuities

Question 21

What is Etiology?

Answer 21

How biological, psychological and environmental process interact to produce outcomes that are observed over time.

Question 22

What is Nature?

Answer 22

The degree to which our genes dictate
emotional, cognitive and behavioral outcomes
such as personality traits, levels of aggression,
frustration tolerance, intelligence, empathic
responsiveness, etc…

Question 23

What is Nurture?

Answer 23

The degree to which variables in the
environment during development, including in
utero, are determinants of these aforementioned
outcomes.

Question 24

What occurs in the Prenatal environment?

Answer 24

• Reciprocal influence
• Person and environment interaction.
• Both good and bad affect the developing fetus.
• possible harms to the developing fetus
• Dosage & duration
• Genetic make-up: susceptibility

Question 25

What is a Teratogen?

Answer 25

harmful environmental agent

Question 26

True or False: externalizing problems (behaviors) and a dx of conduct disorder during childhood have been shown to be associated with prenatal stress, independent of postnatal maternal or genetic factors.

Answer 26

True

Question 27

What are some indicators of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome?

Answer 27

- Microcephaly - small head - Low nasal bridge - epicanthal folds - skin fold of the eyes - micrognathia - small lower jaw - thin upper lip - minor ear abnormalities - smooth philtrum - groove that naturally forms above the upper lip - small palpebral fissures - whites of the eyes

Question 28

True or False: Brain and nervous system do not function as underlying causes of psychological disorders.

Answer 28

False: they do function as underlying causes

Question 29

True or False: The early years of life do not matter because early experiences do not affect the architecture of the maturing brain.

Answer 29

False: they do matter and they do affect the architecture of the maturing brain

Question 30

What is Neural Plasticity?

Answer 30

the brain is most malleable early on, and the brains anatomical differences are use-dependent.

Question 31

In the first few years of life, approximately 700 new neural connections are formed every second, what sort of sensory pathways are formed?

Answer 31

like those for basic vision and hearing are the first to develop, followed by early language skills and higher cognitive functions

Question 32

What are some facts regarding Neural Plasticity?

Answer 32

- The brains atomical differentiation is use dependent. - Our developmental history creates a brain that dictates behaviors seen in adolescence and adulthood. - Most disorders are ‘adolescent emergent’. - What came before adolescence creates this manifestation of psychopathology

Question 33

How important of a role does the caregiver play when it comes to brain development in children?

Answer 33

- children whose mothers nurtured them early in life have a larger hippocampus - the more severe the caregiver’s neglect, the more pronounced the brain damage can be.

Question 34

How are Neural connections formed and strengthened in children?

Answer 34

- Neural connections are formed and strengthened when the caregivers responds to a child's cries, eye-contact, or is picked-up and held. - Serve and return interactions shape brain architecture

Question 35

What may happen if the caregiver’s responses are inconsistent or they are not responding

Answer 35

- Future physical, mental, and emotional health may be compromised. - The body’s stress response is activated, flooding the developing brain with potentially harmful stress hormones.

Question 36

How does Stress affect early childhood development?

Answer 36

- Children exposed to severe early life stress experience emotion regulation difficulties, which correlate with the development of psychopathology. - Volumetric differences in the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortexin children exposed to early life stress.

Question 37

How is the cerebellum affected by sensitive to ones environment?

Answer 37

- In one study, those who experienced mild to moderate family difficulties between birth and 11 years of age had developed a smaller cerebellum at age 17, an area of the brain associated with skill learning, stress regulation and sensory-motor control. - The cerebellum is consistently found to be smaller in some psychiatric illnesses.