Editorial for ECAP, July Issue 2010

Excerpt

More and more studies deal with the problem of gene × environment interaction (G × E) to explain the origins and courses of child psychiatric disorders [3]. However, this kind of knowledge is still in its infancy and few of these G × E effects have been sufficiently replicated [8]. Nevertheless, the results can and should be introduced already in today’s public mental health debate of prevention, e.g. how to reduce the additive risks of certain genetic polymorphisms and smoking during pregnancy [1, 4]. The role of more complex environmental factors (usually psychosocial in nature) in mediating and modifying psychopathology of children is investigated much broader [5], but still highly debated. …