Developmental psychopathology in the post-genomics era - substantial challenges but reasons for hope

One only has to quickly look through the Table of Contents for this issue of JCPP to gain an appreciation of the ever-increasing influence of genetic research in the field of developmental psychopathology. Among the 13 articles in this issue that follow this editorial: two employ large family and/or twin studies to provide compelling behavioral genetic findings bolstering the importance of genes in the emergence of ADHD (Chen, Brikell, Lichtenstein, Serlachius, Kuja-Halkola, Sandin, and Larsson) and level of educational achievement in adolescents (Lewis, Asbury, and Plomin); one paper focuses on cortical development in patients with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome and its association with positive symptoms of psychosis (Radoeva, Bansal, Antshel, Fremont, Peterson, and Kates); a Commentary (Border and Keller) and Response to Commentary (Moore) debate the relative advantages and disadvantages of candidate gene versus genome-wide approaches to detecting certain genetic markers, particularly in relation to interactions with the environment; and two more focus on the identification of endophenotypes for autism spectrum disorders which will presumably facilitate the identification of genes for this complex disorder (Jones, Venema, Earl, Lowy, and Webb; Van Eylen, Boets, Cosemans, Peeters, Steyaert, Wagemans, and Noens).