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