Research studies in abnormal childhood psych seek to? (4)
- Define normal and abnormal behaviour for children of different ages, sexes, and ethnic and cultural backgrounds
- Identify the cases and correlates
- Predictions long-term outcomes
- Develop treatment and prevention
Reasons for skepticism about research in abnormal child psych (4)
- Experts often disagree
- Mainstream media oversimplifies studies
- Findings conflict with one another
- Different treatments work for different reasons
Difference between science and pseudo science?
- Quality of evidence
- How evidence was obtained
- How evidence is presented
Epidemiological research is…
The study of incidence, prevalence and occurrence of disorders
- Incidence Rates?
2. Prevalence Rates?
- The extend to which new cases of a disorder appear over a specific period of time
- All cases (new and existing) observed during a specific time period
Correlates?
Variables associated at a particular point in time
- No evidence that one precedes the other
- Risk Factors?
2. Protective Factors?
Both variables that precede an outcome of interest
1- Increase the chance of a negative outcome
2- Decrease the chances of a negative outcome
Treatment efficacy vs. treatment effectiveness
Efficacy= Whether a treatment can produce changes under well-controlled (research) conditions Effectiveness= Whether the treatment can be shown to work in clinical practice
Standardization
- Application of certain standards or norms to a technique to ensure consistency in the way it is used by different assessors and across measurement occasions.
- Standardized tests are reliable and valid
Internal vs. External Validity
Internal= The extent to which a particular variable, rather than extraneous influences, accounts for the findings External= How findings can be generalized to people, settings, times, measures, and characteristics
Comorbidity
The simultaneous occurrence of two or more disorders
Views:
Before the 18th Century
By the end of the 18th Century
Before- Children were subject to harsh treatment and largely ignored
By the end- Interest in abnormal child behaviour has surfaced
John Locke (17th Century)
Believed children should be raised with thought and care, not indifference and harsh treatment
Jean-Marc Itard (19th century)
Focused on the care, treatment, and training of “mental defectives”
Leta Hollingworth
Distinguished individuals with mental retardation (“imbeciles”) from those with psychiatric disorders (“lunatics”)
Benjamin Rush
- Claimed that children were incapable of adult-like insanity
- Children with normal cognitive abilities but disturbing behaviour suffer from “moral insanity”
Late 19th Century
Mental Illnesses viewed as?
Biological problems
Clifford Beer
His efforts led us to detection and intervention
- Beginning of empathy when talking about this
- Good until people started to think it was biological. That’s when the eugenics and stuff started ):
