Reported is a research program to observe children at high risk for schizophrenia and explore possibilities of prevention. Characteristics of the high risk group (n=207) observed during 1962 are discussed, and a theory which suggests that schizophrenia is an evasion of life is explained. Among results of a diagnostic assessment conducted 10 years later with high and low risk samples (20 to 30 years old) were that all of the mothers of the high-risk Ss were seriously schizophrenic, that the birth of the schizophrenic group was relatively difficult; and that ANS (autonomic nervous system) recovery rate was found to predict very well to later schizophrenia. Separate analyses were conducted for male and female high risk individuals to examine the effects of seriousness of illness of the mother, separation from parents during early life, pregnancy and birth complications, and ANS recovery and responsiveness on development of schizophrenia. Some tentative reflections regarding sex related findings are offered. It is concluded that the form which schizophrenia takes in men and women may be different along with withdrawal-activity dimenison and that these differences may be related to the hypothesized role of ANS factors in the learning of avoidance-withdrawal. Tables and charts with statistical data are provided. (SBH)