ABSTRACT
This chapter consists of an explicit introduction, in language accessible to nongeneticists, of some of the key issues in the study of nature and nurture, especially as applied to developmental psychopathology. A brief overview of the purpose and methods offamily studies is provided in the first section because family studies represent a first step in genetic approaches to psychopathology. The second section contains a simple outline of the various etiological models that specify how genes and environments contribute to psychopathological conditions and indicates
the typical research strategies that correspond to the different models. The focus of the third section is the concept of genetic liability, which appears to be a plausible construct for many forms of psychopathology including eating disorders. In the fourth and final section is a discussion of the developmental principles involved in investigating the genetic liability to psychopathology.
