Integrating biological measures into the design and evaluation of preventive interventions

The preeminent objective of the field of prevention science is to intervene in the course of development to reduce or eliminate the emergence of maladaptation and mental disorder, as well as to foster the recovery of function and to promote resilient adaptation in individuals at high risk for psychopathology (Cicchetti & Hinshaw, 2002; Ialongo et al., 2006; Luthar & Cicchetti, 2000). To fulfill this laudable goal, it is important that prevention scientists possess a complex, multilevel understanding of the course of normality to formulate an in-depth portrayal of how deviations in normal developmental processes can eventuate in maladaptation and psychopathology. The discipline of developmental psychopathology, with its major focus on the dialectic between normal and abnormal development, is uniquely poised to provide the theoretical foundation for prevention science (Cicchetti & Toth, 1992, 2006a; Ialongo et al., 2006; Institute of Medicine, 1994). From a developmental psychopathology perspective, maladaptation and mental disorder are viewed as evolving from progressive liabilities in the organization of biological and psychological systems, resulting in the undermining of the individual’s efforts to adapt effectively to stressful and adverse experiences (Cicchetti & Tucker, 1994; Gunnar, 2003; Gunnar & Vazquez, 2006). Prevention scientists are cognizant that there are multiple pathways to mental disorder and dysfunction, and that diverse causal processes likely operate for different individuals. Moreover, prevention researchers understand that a variety of maladaptive and adaptive outcomes will occur despite a common early liability or risk condition (Cicchetti & Rogosch, 1996). The dynamic interplay between risk and protective factors is conceived as influencing the developmental course through the impact it has on the quality of the organization of biological and psychological systems as the individual develops (Cicchetti & Schneider-Rosen, 1986). Developmental psychopathology research emphasizes probabilistic, rather than deterministic, models of dysfunction (Gottlieb & Willoughby, 2006; Rutter & Sroufe, 2000). Moreover, various risk factors often co-occur, and the cumulative effects of multiple risk factors have been shown to be especially harmful to competent functioning, thereby promoting the development of psychopathology (Cicchetti & Sroufe, 2000; Sameroff, 1989). Thus, it is important to examine causal models of psychopathology Our work on this Editorial and Special Issue was partially supported by research grants from the National Institute of Drug Abuse (DA017741-01), the National Institute of Mental Health (MH54643, MH067792-01), and the Spunk Fund to Dante Cicchetti and a Senior Scientist Award (MH66208) and research grant (MH068857) from the National Institute of Mental Health to Megan R. Gunnar. Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Dante Cicchetti, McKnight Presidential Chair of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, 51 East River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55455; or Megan R. Gunnar, Regents Professor, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, 51 East River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55455. Development and Psychopathology 20 (2008), 737–743 Copyright # 2008 Cambridge University Press Printed in the United States of America doi:10.1017/S0954579408000357