Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Psychopathological Development Across Adolescence

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Daniel Offer’s seminal writings in the 1960s led to a realization that normal adolescence was not characterized by turmoil and upheaval, the then prevailing view that derived from studies of clinical samples. In this paper, the research findings that have appeared over the last four decades are reviewed with respect to the overall features of adolescence, the psychopathological changes in the teenage years, brain development during adolescence and neuroendocrine changes. The possible pathways involved in adolescent transitions are considered with respect to depression, drug use/abuse, antisocial behavior, schizophrenia and suicidal behavior. Conclusions are drawn on the operation of a range of multi-step causal pathways and implications for policy and practice are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Angold A, Costello EJ, Erkanli A, Worthman CM (1999) Pubertal changes in hormone levels and depression in girls. Psychol Med 29:1043–1053

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Arseneault L, Cannon M, Witton J, Murray RM (2004) Causal association between cannabis and psychosis: Examination of the evidence. Br J Psychiatry 184:110–117

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bancroft J (1993) The premenstrual syndrome—A reappraisal of the concept and the evidence. Psychological Medicine, Monograph Supplement 24. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Caspi A, Moffitt TE, Cannon M, McClay J, Murray R, Harrington H et al. (2005) Moderation of the effect of adolescent-onset cannabis use on adult psychosis by a functional polymorphism in the COMT gene: Longitudinal evidence of a gene environment interaction. Biol Psychiatry 57:1117–1127

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Caspi A, Sugden K, Moffitt TE et al. (2003) Influence of life stress on depression. Moderation by a polymorphism in the 5-HTT gene. Science 301:386–389

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chambers RA, Taylor JR, Potenza MN (2003) Developmental neurocircuitry of motivation in adolescence: A critical period of addiction vulnerability. Am J Psychiatry 160:1041–1052

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eaves LJ, Silberg J, Erkanli A (2003) Resolving multiple epigenetic pathways to adolescent depression. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 44:1006–1014

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman SS, Elliott GR (1990) At the threshold: The developing adolescent. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillberg C, Wahlstrom J, Forsman A, Hellgren L, Gillberg IC (1986) Teenage psychoses—epidemiology, classification and reduced optimality in the pre-, peri- and neonatal periods. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 27:87–98

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Glowinski AL, Madden PA, Bucholz KK, Lynskey MT, Heath AC (2003) Genetic epidemiology of self-reported lifetime DSM-IV major depressive disorder in a population-based twin sample of female adolescents. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 44:988–996

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gogtay N, Giedd JN, Lusk L, Hayashi KM, Greenstein D, Vaituzis AC et al. (2004) Dynamic mapping of human cortical development during childhood through early adulthood. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:8174–8179

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Graham P (2004) The end of adolescence. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Hankin BL, Abramson LY, Moffitt TE, Silva PA, McGee R, Angell KE (1998) Development of depression from preadolescence to young adulthood: Emerging gender differences in a 10-year longitudinal study. J Abnorm Psychol 107:128–140

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hawton K, Fortune S (In press) Suicidal behaviour and deliberate self-harm. In 5th ed of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

  • Home Office (1997) Criminal statistics England and Wales 1996. London: HMSO.

  • Huttenlocher PR (2002). Neural plasticity: The effects of environment on the development of the cerebral cortex. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Kendler KS, Prescott CA (2006) Genes, environment, and psychopathology: Understanding the causes of psychiatric and substance use disorders. Guilford Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Keshavan MS, Kennedy JL, Murray RM (Eds.) (2004) Neurodevelopment and Schizophrenia. Cambridge University Press, London and New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Kreitman N (1976) Age and parasuicide (“attempted suicide”). Psychol Med 6:113–121

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn D (2006) Do cognitive changes accompany developments in the adolescent brain? Perspectives Psychol Sci 1:59–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maughan B, Iervolino AC, Collishaw S (2005) Time trends in child and adolescent mental disorders. Curr Opin Psychiatry 18:381–385

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moffitt TE (1993) Adolescence-limited and life-course persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy. Psychol Rev 100:674–701

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moffitt TE, Caspi A, Rutter M, Silva PA (2001) Sex differences in antisocial behaviour: Conduct disorder, delinquency and violence in the Dunedin longitudinal study. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Moffitt TE, Caspi, A, Rutter M (2005) Strategy for investigating interactions between measured genes and measured environments. Arch Gen Psychiatry 62:473–481

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moffitt TE, Caspi A, Rutter M (2006) Measured gene-environment interactions in psychopathology: Concepts, research strategies, and implications for research, intervention, and public understanding of genetics. Perspect Psychol Sci 1:5–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Monti PM, Miranda R, Nixon K, Sher KJ, Swartswelder S, Tapert SF, While A, Crews FT (2005) Adolescence: Booze, brains and behavior. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 29:207–220

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Murray RM, Lewis SW (1987) Is schizophrenia a neurodevelopmental disorder? Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 295(6600):681–682

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • National Commission on marihuana and drug abuse (1973) Drug use in America: Problems of perspective. Second report of the Commission. US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC

  • Offer D (1969) The psychological world of the teenager. Basic Books, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Offer D, Sabshin M (1966) Normality; Theoretical and clinical concepts. Basic Books Inc.

  • Petersen AC (1988) Adolescent development. Annu Rev Psychol 39:583–607

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rapoport J (1980) Diagnostic significance of drug response in child psychiatry. In: Purcell EF (ed) Psychopathology of children and youth. Josiah Macy Jnr Foundation, New York

  • Rutter M (1979) Changing youth in a changing society: Patterns of adolescent development and disorder. Nuffield Provincial Hospitals Trust, London (1980—Cambridge, Harvard University Press, Mass)

  • Rutter M (2002) Substance use and abuse: Causal pathways considerations. In: Rutter M, Taylor E (eds) Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 4th edition. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, pp 455–462

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutter M (2006) Genes and behavior: Nature-nurture interplay explained. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutter M, Smith D (Eds) (1995) Psychosocial disorders in young people: Time trends and their causes. Wiley, Chichester

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutter M, Giller H, Hagell A (1998) Antisocial behavior by young people. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutter M, Graham P, Chadwick OFD, Yule W (1976) Adolescent turmoil: fact or fiction? J Child Psychol Psychiatry 17:35–56

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rutter M, Maughan B, Kim-Cohen J (2006) Continuities and discontinuities in psychopathology between childhood and adult life. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 47:276–295

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rutter M, Maughan B, Meyer J, Pickles A, Silberg J, Simonoff E, Taylor E (1997) Heterogeneity of antisocial behavior: Causes, continuities and consequences (Jointly). In: Dienstbier R (Series Editor) & Osgood DW (Volume Editor) Nebraska Symposium on Motivation: Vol.44: Motivation and delinquency. NE: University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, pp 45–118

  • Rutter M, Moffitt TE, Caspi A (2006) Gene-environment interplay and psychopathology: multiple varieties but real effects. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 47(3-4), 226-61.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sameroff A (2006) Identifying risk and protective factors for healthy child development. In: Clarke-Stewart A, Dunn J (eds) Families Count: Effects on child and adolescent development. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 53–78

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw P, Greenstein D, Lerch J, Clasen L Lenroot R, Gogtay N et al. (2006) Intellectual ability and cortical development in children and adolescents. Nature 30:676–679

    Google Scholar 

  • Silbereisen RK, Robins L, Rutter M (1995) Secular trends in substance use: Concepts and data on the impact of social change on alcohol and drug abuse. In: Rutter M, Smith DJ (eds) Psychosocial disorders in young people: Time trends and their causes. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, UK, pp 490–543

    Google Scholar 

  • Silberg J, Rutter M, Neale M, Eaves L (2001) Genetic moderation of environmental risk for depression and anxiety in adolescent girls. Br J Psychiatry 179:116–121

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smetana JG, Campione-Barr N, Metzger A (2006) Adolescent development in interpersonal and societal contexts. Annu Rev Psychol 57:255–284

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Steinberg L, Morris AS (2001) Adolescent development. Annu Rev Psychol 52:83–110

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thornberry TP, Krohn MD, Lizotte AJ, Chard-Wiershem D (1993) The role of juvenile gangs in facilitating delinquent behavior. J Res Crime Delinquency 30:55–87

    Google Scholar 

  • Trzesniewski KH, Moffitt TE, Caspi A, Taylor A, Maughan B (2006) Revisiting the association between reading achievement and antisocial behavior: new evidence of an environmental explanation from a twin study. Child Dev 77:72–88

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weinberger DR (1987) Implications of normal brain development for the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Arch General Psychiatry 44:660–669

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiner IB, Del Gaudio AC (1976) Psychopathology in adolescence. Arch General Psychiatry 33:187–193

    Google Scholar 

  • Wellings K, Field J, Johnson A, Wadsworth J (1994) Sexual behaviour in Britain: The national survey of sexual attitudes and life-style. Penguin Books, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Zammit S, Allebeck P, Andreasson S, Lundberg I, Lewis G (2002) Self reported use as a risk factor for schizophrenia in Swedish conscripts of 1969: historical cohort study. Br Med J 325:1199–1203

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Box PO80, MRC SGDP Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AF, UK

    Michael Rutter

Authors
  1. Michael Rutter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Rutter.

Additional information

Michael Rutter’s epidemiological studies into adolescence were much influenced by Daniel Offer’s concepts and findings. Although the two of them never worked together Daniel Offer was a mentor at a distance. Michael Rutter’s research interests have particularly concerned the need to integrate social, genetic and developmental research perspectives and, amongst other things, this has led to a major interest in the phenomenon of resilience.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rutter, M. Psychopathological Development Across Adolescence. J Youth Adolescence 36, 101–110 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-006-9125-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-006-9125-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation