A matter of time: Developmental cascades for developmental science

The pace and breadth of infant development is remarkable-by their third birthday, infants acquire an impressive range of skills across multiple domains. Studying the complexities of cross-domain development, however, poses a challenge for a field of researchers with traditionally siloed expertise. The developmental cascades framework-the conceptual view that disparate domains are interconnected and reciprocally influential-offers researchers a flexible approach to identify and describe infant development. Over the past quarter century, cascades have surged in popularity among infancy researchers. In this review, we provide a history of developmental cascades research and highlight its contributions to the science of infant behavior and development. We discuss contemporary themes and challenges cascades researchers face (e.g., how to clear the high bar needed to establish causality among links in a cascading chain of events) and make recommendations for future research. Specifically, we propose that adopting a cascades approach encourages researchers to: (1) consider the 'whole child' by charting connections across different domains; (2) examine multiple timescales by linking moment-to-moment interactions to broader changes across development; (3) embrace complexity and foster interdisciplinary collaboration; and (4) gather evidence for causal pathways by combining the rigor of lab experiments with the richness of natural observations. Finally, we consider future directions for the next quarter century of cascades research-for developmental science, applied psychology, and clinical intervention.