International activities in pediatric psychology.

Abstract

The Editors of the Journal of Pediatric Psychology (JPP) attempt to group papersto be published into themes when appropriate. At this time there was an oppor-tunity to collect papers authored by colleagues from countries outside NorthAmerica. As Editor, Annette La Greca saw this as an opportunity to addressinternational developments in pediatric psychology and invited me to introducethis special section. I am grateful for this opportunity because one of my profes-sional goals over the past 5 years or so has been to stimulate pediatric psychologyactivities outside North America. To this end, I identified activitiesas a special theme during my term as the 1992 President of the Society ofPediatric Psychology (SPP). Subsequently I have cochaired the SPP Task Forcefor International Activities.For purposes of this discussion, the term international refers tothose outside the United States and Canada. Undoubtedly, some colleagues inCanada may object to being grouped together with the United States in this (andmany other) context(s) and not being seen as a distinct culture. Pediatric psychol-ogy as institutionalized by SPP would do well to address this constituencydirectly in some of its programs. However, Canadian colleagues in pediatricpsychology have proximity to colleagues and activities in the United States, to alarge extent, shared language, and many similarities in professional culture,unlike colleagues outside North America.