Introduction to Psychology
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Child and adolescent development

Research on development from before birth through adolescence, carried by two research societies and SRCD's journal Child Development. It is a research focus, not a clinical credential.

Also called: child development, adolescent development

Interdisciplinary fieldDevelopment

Type of entry
Interdisciplinary fieldAn area that draws on psychology together with other disciplines. Types are editorial labels, not an official classification.
Cluster
Development and learningChange across life, learning, schooling and behavior analysis.
Sources opened
4 of 42 read as a full page, 2 as selected text or an abstract, 0 not verified.
Independent review
Admitted after correctionsClaude Code reviewer agent, separate from the writer, 2026-10-21. 8 claims checked against 4 sources opened by the reviewer.

What it studies

Child and adolescent development covers change from conception through adolescence. The journal Child Development of the Society for Research in Child Development describes this range, and the Society for Research on Adolescence describes its aim as understanding adolescence by considering biological, psychological and sociocultural aspects of development in context.

History and people

The National Research Council founded a Committee on Child Development in 1925, and the Society for Research in Child Development followed in 1933. The journal Child Development began in 1930. Adolescence has its own society: the Society for Research on Adolescence was established in 1984 after small invited conferences hosted by Hershel and Ellen Thornburg between 1982 and 1985, and it held its first conference in 1986 in Madison, Wisconsin.

People and documented roles

  • Hershel Thornburg. Co-host, with Ellen Thornburg, of conferences on adolescence in 1982 to 1985 that preceded the Society for Research on Adolescence
    • Hosted a series of small invited conferences on adolescence that preceded the society's establishment. [3]
  • Ellen Thornburg. Co-host, with Hershel Thornburg, of conferences on adolescence in 1982 to 1985 that preceded the Society for Research on Adolescence
    • Hosted a series of small invited conferences on adolescence that preceded the society's establishment. [3]
  • Robert S. Woodworth. Psychologist at Columbia appointed to the National Research Council's Committee on Child Development and later its chair
    • With Lawrence K. Frank, helped decide that child development was an interdisciplinary endeavor rather than child psychology. [2]

The sources opened name only these roles. They do not document researchers who shaped adolescence research, women scholars, or contributors outside the United States, and the Thornburg role is that of conference hosts, not founders of the field.

Dated milestones

  • 1925Society or organization formed. Year.National Research Council founds the Committee on Child Development (SRCD's own account). [1]
  • 1930Publication. Year.The journal Child Development starts, according to the journal page. [4]
  • 1933Society or organization formed. Year.The committee becomes the Society for Research in Child Development, according to the society's page. [1]
  • 1984Society or organization formed. Year.Society for Research on Adolescence established after invited conferences in 1982 to 1985 (the society's own account). [3]
  • 1986Event. Year.First conference of the Society for Research on Adolescence, held in Madison, Wisconsin. [3]

Methods

The sources opened here do not describe research methods in detail. One history of the child development movement says its early conferences and publications joined disciplines from anatomy and anthropology to child welfare. The Society for Research on Adolescence lists diversity in scholarship, including disciplinary perspectives and methodological approaches, among its values.

Training and applications

Both societies state applied aims. The journal Child Development says its research has applications for practitioners, educators, clinicians and policymakers as well as researchers, and the adolescence society says it aims to guide parenting, schooling, programs and policies. The society sources focus on research activities and do not document professional training or practice eligibility.

Boundaries and limits

A decision by the committee's leaders, recorded in the society's history, held that child development was not child psychology but an interdisciplinary endeavor, so the area is not owned by psychology. It overlaps with developmental psychology, clinical child and adolescent psychology and educational psychology. The dates above describe organizations and a journal, not the start of research on children, and the sources opened here do not document the history of the area in other regions.

Evidence behind the claims

  • The SRCD journal Child Development publishes original research on child development from conception through adolescence, with applications for practitioners, educators, clinicians and policymakers as well as researchers.

    What it studiesThe organization's own descriptionSource: [4]Where: Journal page, Description and Aims and scope text

  • The journal page gives 1930 as the year Child Development started and identifies it as the flagship publication of the Society for Research in Child Development.

    History and peopleThe organization's own descriptionSource: [4]Where: Journal page, 'Year started' item

  • The National Research Council founded the Committee on Child Development in 1925, and the society's page says it became the Society for Research in Child Development in 1933.

    History and peopleThe organization's own descriptionSource: [1]Where: Who We Are page, history paragraph

  • Robert S. Woodworth, appointed to the Committee on Child Development and later its chair, and Lawrence K. Frank of the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Fund decided that child development was not child psychology but an interdisciplinary endeavor, with disciplines ranging from anatomy and anthropology to child welfare.

    Boundaries and limitsDocumented in the sourceSource: [2]Where: Pages 1-2, paragraph beginning 'Perhaps the most important decision made by the NRC'

  • The Society for Research on Adolescence was established in 1984, following a series of small invited conferences on adolescence hosted by Hershel and Ellen Thornburg between 1982 and 1985.

    History and peopleThe organization's own descriptionSource: [3]Where: 'Did you know?' box, first item

  • The first Society for Research on Adolescence conference was held in 1986 in Madison, Wisconsin, focused on education and early adolescence, with around 135 attendees.

    History and peopleThe organization's own descriptionSource: [3]Where: 'Did you know?' box, second item

  • The Society for Research on Adolescence states its goals as advancing understanding of adolescence and enhancing youth wellbeing, promoting research on biological, psychological and sociocultural aspects of development in context, and guiding parenting, schooling, programs and policies.

    Training and applicationsThe organization's own descriptionSource: [3]Where: Mission box

  • The Society for Research on Adolescence lists 'diversity in scholarship', including the study of diverse populations, disciplinary perspectives and methodological approaches, among its values.

    MethodsThe organization's own descriptionSource: [3]Where: Values boxes, fourth box

Where it appears

Professional contexts

Examples show documented structures. They are not a ranking, a census, or a statement about admission or licensing.

In the Psy101 course

This is course relevance only. It is not evidence for the historical or practice claims on this page.See the full course map.

Sources and inspection

4 of 4 sources were opened and read at the level shown. A source marked as not verified supports no claim on this page by itself.

  1. [1]
    Who We AreSociety for Research in Child Development, undated. Professional association. Supports the history.Selected text readRead through the fetch tool's extraction: mission, membership and the short history paragraph; linked pages were not read.
  2. [2]
    SRCD and Social Policy 1976-2008Society for Research in Child Development (author John W. Hagen, University of Michigan), undated. Society history. Supports the history.Full page readRead all six pages as rendered pages. The document shows no single publication date; the title names the span 1976-2008.
  3. [3]
    About (Society for Research on Adolescence history poster)Society for Research on Adolescence, undated. Professional association. Supports the history.Full page readIndependently retrieved the HTTPS PDF directly with HTTP 200 and no redirect on October 21, 2026, then read the complete one-page poster as a rendered page and extracted text. An HTTP request redirects to this HTTPS URL and returns identical PDF bytes. Confirmed both history items, mission and all four values boxes. The Canva creation date of April 3, 2024 is file metadata, not a publication year.
  4. [4]
    Child Development (journal page)Society for Research in Child Development, undated. Professional association. Supports the definition of the area.Selected text readRead the description and the 'year started' item through the fetch tool's extraction; the publisher is not named on the page and the journal's contents were not read.

Independent source review: Claude Code reviewer agent, separate from the writer, 2026-10-21. Verdict: Admitted after corrections. Of 8 claims checked, 7 were supported as written, 1 were reworded and 0 were removed.