The present analyses test the hypothesis that psychopathology dimensions in children and adolescents are highly correlated at the phenotypic level largely because they are correlated at the genotypic level. These analyses are based on the premise that the underlying latent dimensions of prevalent mental disorders are continuous rather than discrete taxa. That is, like others, 11-14 we assume that the diagnostic thresholds for prevalent mental disorders represent conventional cut-points on symptom continua designed to help clinicians make informed dichotomous treatment decisions rather than reflecting qualitatively distinct states of mental health.
