The purpose of this paper is to trace the role of culture as an explanatory construct in developmental processes and outcomes, and its implications in the understanding of developmental psychopathology. Literature reviews were conducted by historical period: 1930–1939, 1960–1969, and 1990–1999. The percentage of the total articles and chapters pertaining to cultural issues increased as a function of time. Both conceptual and methodological continuities and discontinuities were observed among the three periods. The preponderance of comparative studies using deficit models still remains, but more enlightened alternative conceptual models, within culture studies, and measures of cultural processes, are emerging. In contrast, although contextual influences are considered important in developmental psychopathology, the field lags in its empirical consideration of cultural influences. The need to seriously address these issues will increase as globalization and rapid cultural change become even more the norm than the exception.

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This study investigated the relationship between parents' reports, as compared with our obtained measurements, of their children's body status. Separate body mass index (BMI) scores were calculated based on: (1) parents' report of their children's height and weight, and (2) children's measured height and weight. Results indicate that parents' perceptions of their children's body status reliably varied from the scores obtained from our measurements, such that parents whose children classified as overweight consistently underreported their children's BMI, while parents whose children fell into the underweight category did the opposite. Implications for the potential psychological mechanisms at play in addition to how these findings might relate to the larger childhood obesity crisis in the United States and internationally are discussed.

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