Psychopathology From Childhood Into Adulthood: Follow-Up of An Epidemiological Sample

Understanding the origins, nature, and course of psychopathology across the life span is of importance for mental health professionals working with children as well as for those working with adults. Mental health professionals who work with children are concerned about the long term consequences of disorders in children and adolescents, whereas mental health professionals working with adults are often concerned about childhood origins of adult psychopathology. From both child and adult perspectives it is hoped that the knowledge about the developmental processes underlying the course of psychopathology will give us clues with respect to the prevention and intervention of psychopathology. The individual and societal burdens that are inherent in the less favorable courses of lllany child and adolescent psychiatric disorders make it crucial to gain more empirical knowledge of the development of psychopathology from childhood, across adolescence, and into adulthood, and the processes influencing the development.