Developmental psychopathology is concerned with the origins and progression of patterns of adaptive and maladaptive behavior across the lifespan. Training in this concentration at UVM is based on the following principles:

• Maladaptive functioning or disorder results from a failure to successfully negotiate developmentally-appropriate tasks.
• The behavioral difficulties resulting from a particular stressor may differ depending on when the stressor happens.
• Knowledge of normal developmental processes is essential for understanding the emergence of a disorder, associated impairments, and accumulating comorbidities over time.
• Understanding adaptation over the life course requires the integration of several scientific traditions, including developmental psychology, clinical psychology, and psychiatry.

Distinct from child clinical psychology and developmental psychology, developmental psychopathology requires a knowledge base in both areas and provides a framework for studying typical and atypical developmental processes.

Graduate students in either the Clinical or Developmental Ph.D. programs at UVM are eligible for the Developmental Psychopathology Concentration. Students who elect to complete this concentration are required to complete all of the coursework for their respective programs as well as foundational courses for the concentration. Students will earn a Ph.D. in the area that they entered (clinical psychology or developmental), regardless of the affiliation of their advisor. Students who complete the Developmental Psychopathology Concentration can work with faculty from either the clinical or developmental program, regardless of their program affiliation. Developmental students do not complete practicum or internship.