Growth of Division 12 and the Origins of the Section on Clinical Child Psychology (Section 1), 1962—

Abstract

In his article in the symposium that was supposed to have been presented to the American Association of Clinical Psychologists in 1918, J. E. Wallace Wallin (1919) speculated that in the future, clinical psychology would probably have to be divided up into various “sections” because it was so diverse. When the sections of Division 12 began to be formed in the 1960s, no one seemed to remember Wallin’s words, but he was certainly among the earliest to recognize the heterogeneity of the profession. In a way, Division 12’s present six sections (Clinical Child Psychology, Clinical Geropsychology, Science of Clinical Psychology, Clinical Psychology of Women, Pediatric Psychology, and Ethnic Minority Issues) are in some ways analogous to APA’s nearly 50 divisions—a way to acknowledge the diverse groups of people the organization is trying to serve.