A study of psychopathology of parents of psychotic children by structured interview

Abstract

To improve observer uniformity and objectivity in the psychiatric appraisal of parents of psychotic children, structured psychiatric interviews were administered to 64 parents of psychotic children, including 28 husband-wife pairs and 8 single parents. Judgments were recorded on the Spitzer-Endicott Psychiatric Status Schedule and the past section of their Current and Past Psychopathology Scales. There were no significant differences between fathers and mothers of organic and nonorganic children (children with and without evidence of neurological dysfunction). As a whole, the 56 parents in the 28 participating husband-wife pairs fell between a contrast group of 55 adult subjects attending a psychiatric clinic and another contrast group of 130 subjects living in the community in upper Manhattan in their trends to pathological symptoms as judged by the Psychiatric Status Schedule. Similarly, in the past section of the Current and Past Psychopathology Scales the parents showed a trend to more psychopathology than a community sample of 36 nonpatient adults. Finally, computer diagnoses based on the Psychiatric Status Schedule showed more schizophrenia in the parents of the psychotic children than in a sample of 130 nonpatient adults in the community. The data thus tend to support findings based on the unstructured interview of elevated schizophrenia rates in parents of psychotic children.