Fathers and Developmental Psychopathology (Wiley Series on Personality Processes)

While considerable attention has been paid to the role of fathers in normal child development, when it comes to identifying parental influences on a child's psychological maladjustment, the focus of most modern psychological thinking is radically skewed toward the mothering side of the family equation. Why does the father's role in his child's emotional and behavioral problems receive such scant attention? And why do mothers have to bear such an unfair share of the responsibility for children's emotional and behavioral problems? These questions point to mysteries whose roots must surely run deep in our paternalistic Western traditions.

This book was written in an effort to help broaden the parental focus of the contemporary discourse on developmental psychopathology. To that end, it provides a comprehensive review of the current theory, research, and clinical issues related to the role of fathers in developmental psychopathology, and, takes a multidisciplinary approach, answering crucial questions such as: Who are today's fathers? What is known about fathers and psychological maladjustment in children? How should research into the area best proceed?

Fathers and Developmental Psychopathology begins with an overview of the current demographics of families, followed by a detailed survey of the latest thinking on the role of fathers in normative child development. From there, the book moves on to discussions of mother-blaming; the leading theories of the development of psychopathology; and a comprehensive review of the empirical research on fathers and developmental psychopathology. The author concludes with a chapter that provides practical guidelines on conducting research and clinical work with fathers of psychologically disturbed children.

The first book to offer an in-depth, scholarly treatment of the contributions fathers make to their children's emotional and behavioral problems, Fathers and Developmental Psychopathology is a valuable resource for clinical psychologists—especially clinical child psychologists and specialists in developmental, abnormal, and family psychology—child and family therapists, and ultimately all mental health practitioners who may be called upon to treat psychologically disturbed children.

Of related interest . . .

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY, Volume 1: Theory and Methods, Volume 2: Risk, Disorder, and Adaptation —Edited by Dante Cicchetti and Donald J. Cohen

This two-volume set on developmental psychopathology, the new perspective on mental illness that ties mental disorder to normal development, is a must for clinical and clinical/research psychologists, psychiatrists, developmental psychologists, professors, students, and clinicians/practitioners. The first volume covers the history, theory, and methods of this new approach; examines the relationship between developmental psychopathology and genetics, neuropsychology, epidemiology, and ethology; and looks at the implications of psychometric theory. The second volume deals with assessment, classification, and diagnosis; risk factors such as maltreatment and family discord; and disorders like retardation, addiction, and schizophrenia; all from the developmental point of view. Volume 1: 1995 (0-471-53243-6) 787 pp., Volume 2: 1995 (0-471-53244-4) 908 pp.

A THEORY OF PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT —Luciano L'Abate with the assistance of Charles H. Bryson

Unlike traditional, somewhat metaphysical theories of personality, Luciano L'Abate's theory is firmly rooted in the social and existential exigencies of everyday life as experienced with the five fundamental contexts of home, work, leisure, the marketplace, and in transit. With a keen sense of humanity, Dr. L'Abate shows how normal development and deviance are corollaries and extensions of one another. At the heart of the theory is the conviction that the ability to love and to negotiate are the sine qua non of personal competence, with the family as the major determinant of both. This book is essential reading for personality researchers, students, and all psychologists in clinical, developmental, abnormal, and social psychology. 1993 (0-471-30303-8) 336 pp.