Mental health articles

Disturbances to early development Developmental problems in infancy result from the complex interaction of factors in the infant, factors in the carer, factors in the infant–carer interaction and factors in the broader social environment. Risk and protective factors may be biological and/or psychosocial. They may also be acute or longstanding and vary in intensity. Understanding the clinical presentation involves an assessment of the functioning of the infant–carer system on each level and balancing risk and protective factors.

Early developmental problems, such as failure to attain normative milestones, or atypical development, usually reflect an interaction between intrinsic vulnerability (factors in the infant) and environmental risk (factors in the infant–caregiver relationship and social environment). Given the interdependence of neurobiological and psychosocial development, severe disturbances in infancy frequently involve impaired functioning in both domains. For example, emotional neglect can have effects on brain development and physical growth, as well as on emotional development and social functioning.