Temperament and vulnerability to psychopathology: introduction to the special section

Several authors have highlighted associations with temperament as promising avenues for understanding vulnerability to psychopathology (e.g., Muris and Ollendick, Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 8, 271-289, 2005; Nigg, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 47, 395-422, 2006). The successful integration of models of temperament and models of psychopathology will undoubtedly increase our understanding of both. The current special section intends to present important new ideas and evidence in this field and tries to formulate answers to a couple of emerging questions. To set the stage for the papers, we provide a brief state of the art of research on temperament-psychopathology associations. After that, we discuss emerging questions in the field, some of which are addressed in the papers of this special section. To conclude, we point out a couple of future research perspectives.