Incorporating a Developmental Perspective in Doctoral Training: Survey of Clinical Child Psychology Training Programs and Introduction to the Special Section

Abstract

Examined the degree to which clinical child programs incorporate and integrate developmental theory into their training, and introduced the contributions of 6 leaders in the field to this special section. Fifty-one clinical child doctoral programs responded to the survey. Results indicate that 3 types of training programs are operating: (a) child emphasis (n = 7), which do not have a formal clinical child training program but do have a faculty member who has child research interests; (b) clinical child (n = 37), which have a group of faculty members with specific child research and clinical interests and a formalized program of study; and (c) developmental-clinical programs (n = 7), which are similar to clinical child programs but require a substantive amount of developmental psychology course work and endorse a developmental psychopathology perspective. Findings reveal that clinical child programs have become increasingly differentiated and specialized over the past 20 years, but, with the exception of developmental-clinical programs, most programs are still neglecting to incorporate developmental theory into training. This issue, as well as concerns about the future direction of clinical child doctoral training is addressed in this special section on the Importance of Incorporating Developmental Theory Into Clinical Child Training.