Introduction to the Special Section: Psychological Outcomes of Pediatric Conditions That Affect the Central Nervous System

Large numbers of children and adolescents have conditions that affect the CNS and disrupt normal brain development due to genetic and environmental factors (e.g., fetal alcohol syndrome), trauma, or chronic illness (Yeates, Ris, Taylor, & Pennington, 2010). Such problems have multifaceted effects on the child’s cognitive, emotional, and social development, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and on family functioning. Pediatric psychologists provide assessment and interventions to children and adolescents with these conditions and their families and conduct research that characterizes the impact of these problems. Such research provides important data that describe the impact of various neurological conditions, including the role of risk and protective factors on psychological outcomes. These data are critical in targeting interventions to reduce the risk for a wide range of problematic psychological outcomes. Despite the importance of such research for enhancing the psychological outcomes of children and adolescents with conditions that involve the CNS, this work has been underrepresented in published work in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology. This special section was invited to address this need. Taken together, the contributions to this special section have advanced scientific knowledge concerning the psychological outcomes of children and adolescents with conditions that involve the CNS. The purpose of this introduction is to summarize key points and consider the implications for future research.