Introduction

Written from a developmental perspective, Abnormal Child and Adolescent Psychology is organized around five prominent and recurring themes: the course of normal development proceeds in an orderly and predictable direction; maladaptive behaviors represent deviations from the normal path; maladaptive behavior is represented by a continuum of severity (symptoms, syndromes, disorders) based on the degree to which behaviors deviate from the norm; individual, interpersonal, contextual and cultural factors interact in a reciprocal way to influence normal development and abnormal deviations; theoretical input from diverse perspectives can guide our understanding of underlying processes that precipitate and maintain behaviors and the different developmental pathways that might result. The revision will be divided into 5 sections, all integrating the DSM-5, and will include a new chapter on child maltreatment and self injurious behavior.