ABSTRACT
The moral complexities integral to the performance of human subjects research are intensified when research involves children and adolescents. These complexities are multiplied yet further when the subjects are not only healthy minors but are, also, children and adolescents with psychiatric and/or behavioral problems. One is humbled in the face of these complexities. Nonetheless, research into the psychiatric and behavioral disorders of childhood and adolescence must move forward if we are going to progress in our ability to prevent, treat, and cure these life-sapping conditions. In fact, this volume is a direct result of the social mandate (Institute of Medicine, 1989) to act expeditiously to increase our research knowledge about mental disorders in children and adolescents. Widespread recognition of this need is manifest through society's financial and political support of this highly specialized human subjects research.
