Perhaps given the dominance of the externalizing pathway, current research poorly defines alternative developmental pathways emanating from early childhood that lead to subsequent SUDs. This is a clear limitation of the field. As defined within the Developmental Psychopathology framework, the concept of equifinality indicates that many disorders are reached through multiple pathways and children may follow different pathways to reach these similar outcomes (Cicchetti & Rogosch, 1996).
