Parental psychopathology and family interaction variables as predictors of child competence

Abstract

The University of Rechester Child and Family Study is a risk research program concerned with cross-sectional and developmental relationships among three areas: parental psychopathology and health, family interaction, and child psychopathology and health. Data collection began in 1972 with 145 intact, Caucasian families in which a parent had been hospitalized for psychiatric illness, including schizophrenia and bipolar psychosis, and an index son “at risk” for future illness was aged 4, 7 or 10 yr. Although the offspring have not yet reached the age of major risk for schizophrenia, 52% of the families have one or more offspring either in psychiatric treatment or for whom treatment has been recommended. Thus far, categories of specific parental diagnoses, such as schizophrenia, show no relationship to developmental course of the offspring. However, dimensional measures of chronicity and degree of nonaffectivity of parental illness predicted to measures of child dysfunction. Composite measures of parental psychopathology and family interaction variables each predict significantly and additively, accounting for 34% of the variance in independent measures of school functioning of index sons during their childhood and early adolescence. The family variables were derived from structured and unstructured family interaction procedures in which measures were obtained of parental healthy communication and communication deviance, positive and negative parental affect, and the balance between acts initiated by parents and by offspring.