Editorial

Abstract

The Annual Research Review is intended to provide the readership with updates in selected areas of current research. In this, the 13th Annual Research Review, I have again been pleased to work with an outstanding group of contributors to whom I extend my thanks. The comments of an outstanding set of referees have served to enrich both the papers and the authors and I extend our thanks to them as well. The charge to authors is to provide selective coverage of their topic area. By encouraging these selective reviews our hope is to provide a more interesting and readable set of papers for issues as the authors identify those findings which they feel have been of greatest importance for research over the past decade. In the first paper in this issue Caspi and Shiner have focused on personality differences in children and adolescents. This excellent review brings together a body of current and emerging work. In the next paper Grossman and colleagues discuss the effects of experience on brain development and its possible contributions to psychopathology. This review builds on the growing body of work on the effects of experience on the brain and its potential for providing new perspectives on understanding developmental and behavioral disorders. In their article Bachevalier and Machado discuss the uses and limitations of nonhuman primate models of psychopathology; this work may have particular implications for autism and similar disorders as we understand more about the role of specific brain mechanisms in mental disorders. In his paper Willoughby discuses the developmental course of symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder during the transition from childhood to adolescence and highlights areas important for future research. McMahon and colleagues have undertaken a review of the role of specificity of stress and psychopathology in children and adolescents; this review has particular importance as we attempt to understand how specific the role of stress is in producing specific symptomatology. Finally Woods and colleagues discuss potential parental contributions to children's experience of anxiety. For the 14th edition of the Annual Research Review we anticipate coverage of the following topics: autism and related disorders, assessment in infancy and early childhood, peer relations, outcome of low birthweight infants, learning disabilities, and cross-cultural perspectives on psychopathological disorders. Fred R. VolkmarAssociate Editor