The Child at Psychiatric Risk is a collection of articles that define the relatively new frontier of behavioral genetics. Most of the authors, themselves, have made significant contributions to the field within the past decade. The stated goal is to describe those children at risk for the development of a psychiatric disorder because of genetic or biologic factors. The reader then may be inspired either to participate in research or develop clinical applications (p v). The chapters encompass hyperactivity, developmental disabilities, affective disorders, alcoholism, antisocial personality, and neurotic disorders.
Although the volume is not written for pediatricians, but rather for "psychiatrists, neuroscientists, psychologists, educators, and epidemiologists as well as policy analysts and administrators" (p v), the practicing pediatrician will find the clinical implications fascinating and of pragmatic value in counseling parents, in adoption evaluations, and in flagging high-risk children who would benefit from preventive efforts. In fact, Eysenck's cautiously advanced