Genetics, psychological development, social interactions, cultural influences, and interpersonal factors provide insight into psychopathology's development. The development of psychopathology has roots in neuroscience, with the discovery of genetic markers to help assess risk factors for developing psychological disorders. In particular, the polygenists of behavioral phenotypes create the foundation for understanding the development of psychopathology (Loughnan et al., 2022). Using a model to view a single nucleotide polymorphism’s effect size, a score is computed to determine a genetic risk for developing a specific behavioral trait (Loughnan et al., 2022). In fact, according to Loughnan et al. (2022), the link between the polygenic trait for depression and behavioral disorders has been positively correlated in psychopathology. The role our genetics play in the development of psychopathology is not the only aspect of psychopathology. The various environmental influences play an additional role in developing psychopathology. 

According to Warmingham et al. (2023), our emotions are broken down into two categories: one viewing emotion as a fundamental state, such as happy or angry, and the second viewing emotion as a result of a person’s experiences and neural connections exhibiting the desired effect. A person’s emotion is generated by complex interactions with behavior, attention, cognition, content, and the brain's processes of information (Warmingham et al., 2023). There is a fundamental interaction between behavioral and cognitive processes and emotional development. For example, in adolescents, various pains in the body, such as musculoskeletal and abdominal pain, have been linked to cognitive development. Chronic pain can influence an adolescent's cognitive development, reflected in inattention disorders and maladaptive sensation of pain (Radar et al., 2023). 

According to Ross et al. (2023), children who experience maltreatment are more likely to experience social interactions with aggressive behavior, depression, and low self-esteem. In addition, social interactions can manifest negative thinking with an internal heightened perception threat or the perception of being disliked by peers. Frustration with social interaction can lead a patient to alter social activities, creating isolation. Our social interactions are clues to a person’s psychopathology. 

The African American culture has a higher rate of maltreatment for children and adolescents, represented by more exposure to housing inadequacies, violence, and lower-income families (Ross et al., 2023). Understanding a person’s culture is linked to looking at existing vulnerabilities that may promote psychopathology (Fonagy et al., 2022). A person’s culture can influence psychopathology toward unwanted behavioral outcomes. However, acknowledging different cultural influences can be the framework for developing strategies to prevent psychopathologies from exacerbating. 

Maltreatment as children can affect interpersonal factors as adults, manifesting in social dysfunction, isolation, and aggressive behavior (Maier et al., 2020). Our interpersonal stability can determine our social connections. Discovering the psychopathology behind these behavioral alterations will help guide the patient toward the best treatment to strengthen their social and interpersonal factors. 

References:

Fonagy, P., Campbell, C., Constantinou, M., Higgitt, A., Allison, E., & Luyten, P. (2022). Culture and psychopathology: An attempt at reconsidering the role of social learning. Development and Psychopathology, 34(4), 1205–1220. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579421000092

Loughnan, R. J., Palmer, C. E., Makowski, C., Thompson, W. K., Barch, D. M., Jernigan, T. L., Dale, A. M., & Fan, C. C. (2022). Unique prediction of developmental psychopathology from genetic and familial risk. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 63(12), 1631–1643. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13649Links to an external site.

Maier, A., Gieling, C., Heinen-Ludwig, L., Stefan, V., Schultz, J., Güntürkün, O., Becker, B., Hurlemann, R., & Scheele, D. (2020). Association of Childhood Maltreatment With Interpersonal Distance and Social Touch Preferences in Adulthood. American Journal of Psychiatry, 177(1), 37–46. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.19020212

Rader, L., Freis, S. M., & Friedman, N. P. (2023). Associations Between Adolescent Pain and Psychopathology in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. Behavior Genetics, 53(3), 232–248. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-023-10138-x

Ross, A., Handley, E., Toth, S., & Cicchetti, D. (2023). Negative Perceptions of Peer Relationships as Mechanisms in the Association between Maltreatment Timing and the Development of Psychopathology. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly: Journal of Developmental Psychology, 69(1), 30–55. https://doi.org/https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/mpq/vol69/iss1/2/Links to an external site.

Warmingham, J. M., Duprey, E. B., Handley, E. D., Rogosch, F. A., & Cicchetti, D. (2023). Patterns of childhood maltreatment predict emotion processing and regulation in emerging adulthood. Development & Psychopathology, 35(2), 766–781. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579422000025Links to an external site.

Fonagy, P., Campbell, C., Constantinou, M., Higgitt, A., Allison, E., & Luyten, P. (2022). Culture and psychopathology: An attempt at reconsidering the role of social learning. Development and Psychopathology, 34(4), 1205–1220. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579421000092