Equifinality and Multifinality
Of course, not all childhood disorders persist into adulthood. Why do some conditions show continuity, whereas others do not? Developmental psychopathologists are very interested in individual differences in these divergent developmental outcomes. Predicting individual differences in development is extremely difficult because, as we have seen, many factors interact over time to affect children’s outcomes. The interactions between factors, over time, produce two phenomena: equifinality and multifinality (Hinshaw & Beauchaine, 2015).
Equifinality occurs when children with different developmental histories show similar developmental outcomes (Figure 2.1). Imagine that you are a psychologist who conducts evaluations for a juvenile court. As part of your duties, you assess adolescent boys who have been arrested and convicted of illegal activities in order to make recommendations to the court regarding treatment. All of the boys that you assess have similar developmental outcomes—that is, they all show conduct problems. However, after you interview many of the boys, you discover that their developmental histories are quite different. Some boys were physically abused in early childhood. Other boys had problems with ADHD and risk-taking behavior. Still other boys had long histories of aggressive and destructive behavior. Your discovery illustrates the principle of equifinality in child development: There are many different paths to the same developmental outcome.
Figure 2.1 ■ Equifinality and Multifinality
Note: Equifinality occurs when children with different histories show the same outcome; multifinality occurs when children with the same history show different outcomes.
The principle of multifinality refers to the tendency of children with similar early experiences to show different outcomes. Imagine that you are a clinical social worker who evaluates children who have been physically abused. During the course of your career, you have assessed a number of children who have been abused by their caregivers. You notice that some of these children show long-term emotional and behavioral problems, whereas others seem to show few long-term effects. Your observation reflects the principle of multifinality: Children with similar early experiences can show different developmental outcomes.
The principle of equifinality makes it hard to determine the cause of a child’s disorder. Because of equifinality, we usually cannot infer the causes of children’s problems based on their current symptoms. For example, many people incorrectly believe that all adolescents who sexually abuse younger children were, themselves, sexually abused in the past. In actuality, adolescents engage in sexual abuse for many reasons, not only because they were victimized themselves (Fox & DeLisi, 2019).
The principle of multifinality limits our ability to predict a child’s developmental outcome. For example, many people erroneously believe that if a child has been sexually abused, she is likely to exhibit a host of emotional and behavioral problems later in life, ranging from sexual dysfunctions and aggression to depression and anxiety. In fact, the developmental outcomes of boys and girls who have been sexually abused vary considerably. Some children show significant maladjustment while others show few long-term effects. Their diversity of outcomes illustrates the difficulty in making predictions regarding development (Hinshaw & Beauchaine, 2015).
Review
Developmental pathways reflect the manner in which children face developmental tasks over time. Competence in early developmental tasks (e.g., trust in infancy) can promote competence in later tasks (e.g., friendships in adolescence).
Some disorders, like autism, show homotypic continuity; they remain relatively stable over time. Most disorders, such as anxiety and mood disorders, show heterotypic continuity; the overt signs and symptoms of the disorder change over time, but the underlying problem remains relatively constant.
Equifinality occurs when children with different histories show the same outcome. Multifinality occurs when children with the same history show different outcomes.
Why Do Some Children Have Better Outcomes Than Others?
Risk and Protective Factors
What explains equifinality and multifinality? Why is there such great variability in children’s developmental pathways? The answer is that child development is multiply determined by the complex interplay of biological, psychological, and social–cultural factors. Some of these factors promote healthy, adaptive development, whereas others increase the likelihood that children will follow less-than-optimal, more maladaptive, developmental paths.
Developmental psychopathologists use the term risk factors to describe influences on development that interfere with the acquisition of children’s competencies or compromise children’s ability to adapt to their environments. Risk factors can be biological, psychological, or social–cultural (Cicchetti, 2016a).
In general, the more risk factors experienced by children, the greater their likelihood of developing a disorder. In one study, researchers counted the number of environmental risks experienced by a large sample of adolescents (McLaughlin et al., 2012). Approximately 58% of adolescents experienced at least one risk factor such as parental divorce, parental substance use problems, or economic hardship. Regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender, the more risks that children experienced, the greater their likelihood of developing a mental health problem. Certain risk factors were especially predictive of disorders, such as parental criminal involvement, parental mental health problems, family violence, and child maltreatment.
It is noteworthy, however, that not all youths who experience these risk factors develop mental disorders. Protective factors refer to biological, psychological, and social–cultural influences that buffer the negative effects of risks on children’s development and promote adaptation. For example, parental divorce is a risk factor for behavioral and emotional disorders in young children, especially in families experiencing chronic stress and economic adversity (Hetherington, 2014). However, certain factors protect children of divorced parents from developing problems. These protective factors include the child’s temperament or innate emotional disposition (a biological factor), the quality of the parent–child relationship (a psychological factor), and the degree to which parents can rely on others for support (a social–cultural factor).
The salience of a risk factor depends on the child’s age, gender, level of development, and environmental context. For example, child sexual abuse is a risk factor for later psychosocial problems. However, the effects of sexual abuse depend on the gender of the child and the age at which the abuse occurs. Boys often show the greatest adverse effects of sexual victimization when they are abused in early childhood, whereas girls often show the poorest developmental outcomes when abuse occurs during early adolescence. Similarly, the ability of protective factors to buffer children from the harmful effects of risk depends on context. For example, many children who experience sexual abuse report considerable distress and impairment. However, children who are able to rely on a caring, nonoffending parent are often able to cope with this stressor more effectively than youths without the presence of a supportive caregiver (Cohen, Deblinger, & Mannarino, 2019).
Resilience
Protective factors are believed to promote resilience in at-risk youths. Resilience refers to the tendency of some children to develop competence despite the presence of multiple risk factors (Hayden & Mash, 2014). Consider Ramon and Rafael, two brothers growing up in the same low-income, high-crime neighborhood but experiencing different outcomes.
Case Study: Risk and Resilience
Divergent Developmental Paths
Ramon and Rafael are brothers growing up in the same impoverished neighborhood. Ramon, the older brother, begins showing disruptive behavior at a young age. He is disrespectful to his