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Refereed/Peer-reviewed Although there have been recent advances in knowledge and thinking regarding life history conceptualizations of psychopathology, there is still a missing link. That is, although life history strategies may set the stage for the development of various psychopathologies, we believe there is a missing key factor in understanding individuals' risk profiles of psychopathology. This study explored whether schemas and expectations might help differentiate between those who experience psychopathology and those who do not in a student and community sample. In the current cross-sectional study (N = 378), we examined the associations between life history indicators and experiences of anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive symptomatology, and substance use, as well as the possible mediating and moderating effects of schema and expectations on the associations, respectively. We found several significant mediational pathways with indicators of a faster life strategy predicting increased levels of dysfunctional schemas, and in turn predicting increased experiences of depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive symptomatology, but not substance use. Moreover, although expectations did not significantly moderate the mediational pathways, expectations were a significant predictor of depression and anxiety, with those who reported having their expectations rarely met reporting increased experiences of depression and anxiety. Although this research is preliminary in nature, it has provided initial insight into how our schemas and expectations might play a role, alongside life history strategies, in better understanding individuals' risk profiles for psychopathology.

There is little extant empirical literature examining the associations between life history strategies and symptoms of psychopathology. The current study (N = 138) investigated the associations between life history strategies, symptoms of psychopathology, aggression, incidence of self-harm behaviour, and attachment (perceived parental support) in sample drawn from the general population and community mental health service providers. The results from the study indicate those with a faster life strategy report greater levels of aggression and symptoms of psychopathology. Further, perceptions of poorer parental support were associated with a faster life history strategy. Implications for life history theory, conceptualising psychopathology, and future research directions are discussed. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Despite advances in knowledge and thinking about using life history theory to explain psychopathology there is still a missing link. That is, we all have a life history strategy,but not all of us develop mental health problems. We propose that the missing link is expectations – a mismatch between expected environmental conditions (including social) set by variations in life history strategies and the current environmental conditions.The mismatch hypothesis has been applied at the biological level in terms of health and disease and we believe that it can also be applied more broadly at the psychological level in terms of perceived expectations in the social environment and the resulting distress—psychopathology—that manifests when our expectations are not met. Refereed/Peer-reviewed