Child Maltreatment: A Developmental Psychopathology Approach

Author(s): Kathryn Becker-Blease and Patricia Kerig

Child Abuse

Child maltreatment has enormous costs, both at the individual and the societal level. Today, thanks to increased knowledge and awareness, we are better equipped than ever to prevent the trauma of child abuse and to intervene to help maltreated children. Yet, fundamental questions remain. How and why does normal development go awry in maltreated children? Why are some children more affected than others, and what are the processes that promote or undermine resilience? How can clinicians and child protection professionals help neglected and abused children and their families in the most timely and effective manner? This book explains and summarises the science of developmental psychopathology for clinicians and other professionals who work with maltreated children and those at risk. The authors focus particularly on how maltreatment differentially affects children at key stages of their lives, ranging from infancy to early adulthood, so that clinicians can be aware of age specific vulnerabilities. This handy guide encourages its readers to look beyond immediate presenting problems to better understand the needs and experiences of their young clients.


Product Information

Kathryn Becker-Blease, PhD, is a developmental psychologist and an assistant professor in the School of Psychological Science at Oregon State University. Her major research interests include developmental traumatology — how trauma affects people at different stages of the life course and how prior trauma affects people as they develop over the lifespan. She has published articles on children's trauma, as well as on ethical ways to research child abuse and other trauma in journals including American Psychologist, Science, and Child Development.  


Dr. Becker-Blease has more recently developed a research interest in the science of teaching and learning, including interventions to boost student performance and adaptive learning. She is currently working on a National Science Foundation-funded project to develop and evaluate new educational materials to teach college students research design and graph reading. Her newest work focuses on trauma-informed academic interventions to support academic success for college students who have experienced child abuse, sexual assault, and other trauma.  


Patricia K. Kerig, PhD, received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of California at Berkeley and currently is a professor and director of clinical training in the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah.


She is the author of more than 100 books, chapters, and scientific papers devoted to understanding the factors that predict risk, recovery, and resilience among children and families coping with adversity and traumatic stress, including a textbook, Developmental Psychopathology, now in its sixth edition, and a forthcoming book to be published by APA on the role of relationships as sources of risk and resilience for girls on the pathway to delinquency. She is an associate editor of the Journal of Traumatic Stress and serves on the editorial boards of several other journals.  


In addition to her teaching, clinical work, and research devoted to investigating the mechanisms accounting for the link between trauma and youth outcomes, Dr. Kerig is on the faculty of the Center for Trauma Recovery and Juvenile Justice of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, whose mission is to disseminate trauma-informed assessment and intervention strategies to the juvenile justice system and the youth and families it serves.

General Fields

  • : 9781433822216
  • : American Psychological Association
  • : American Psychological Association
  • : 01 June 2016
  • : United States
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Kathryn Becker-Blease and Patricia Kerig
  • : Paperback
  • : 616.858223
  • : 160
  • : illustrations