Greater unpredictability in childhood from the level of the caregiver-child dyad to broader family, home, or environmental instability is consistently associated with disruptions in cognitive, socioemotional, behavioral, and biological development in humans. These findings are bolstered by experimental research in non-human animal models suggesting that early life unpredictability is an important environmental signal to the developing organism that shapes neurodevelopment and behavior. Research on childhood unpredictability has surged in the past several years, guided in part by theoretical grounding from the developmental psychopathology framework (shaped largely by Dr. Dante Cicchetti’s innovative work). The current review focuses on future directions for unpredictability research, including probing intergenerational effects, the role of predictability in resilience, cultural and contextual considerations, and novel developmental outcomes that should be tested in relation to childhood unpredictability. We urge the integration of multidisciplinary perspectives and collaborations into future research on unpredictability. We also provide ideas for translating this research to real-world practice and policy and encourage high-quality research testing whether incorporating predictability into interventions and policy improves developmental outcomes, which would support further dissemination of these findings.

中文翻译：

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发展精神病理学框架内的童年不可预测性研究：进展、影响和未来方向

童年时期更大的不可预测性，从照顾者与儿童二人组到更广泛的家庭、家庭或环境不稳定，始终与人类认知、社会情感、行为和生物发育的破坏有关。这些发现得到了非人类动物模型实验研究的支持，表明早期生命的不可预测性对于正在发育的有机体来说是塑造神经发育和行为的重要环境信号。过去几年，关于童年不可预测性的研究激增，部分是受到发展精神病理学框架（主要由但丁·西凯蒂博士的创新工作塑造）的理论基础的指导。当前的综述重点关注不可预测性研究的未来方向，包括探讨代际效应、可预测性在复原力中的作用、文化和背景考虑，以及应根据童年不可预测性进行测试的新的发展结果。我们敦促将多学科视角和合作融入未来的不可预测性研究中。我们还提供将这项研究转化为现实世界实践和政策的想法，并鼓励高质量的研究测试将可预测性纳入干预措施和政策是否可以改善发展成果，这将支持这些研究结果的进一步传播。