Screening study for psychiatric disorders among children and adolescents of parents with psychiatric illness and/or substance use disorders

Abstract

Background and purpose Mental illness onset in childhood and adolescence threatens critical age-specific interpersonal, educational, and occupational development. We aimed to assess the presence and types of psychiatric disorders among children and adolescents of parents with psychiatric and/or substance use disorders, and to correlate with different sociodemographic and other factors. Aim We aimed to assess the presence and types of psychiatric disorders among children and adolescents of parents with psychiatric and/or substance use disorders, and to correlate with different sociodemographic and other factors. Patients and methods This cross-sectional study was performed on 54 children with parents suffering from psychiatric illness and/or substance use disorders, admitted to the Neuropsychiatry Department, Tanta University Hospitals, and Centre of Psychiatry, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Egypt. Psychiatric assessment was done mainly using a validated Egyptian classification of Fahmy and El-Sherbini, K-SADS-PL, CBCL, and parentification questionnaire. Results One-third of children had mental illness that was more among females (P=0.031), very low and low socioeconomic status (P=0.038), mentally ill/addict mothers (P=0.012), nuclear families (P=0.018), children with poor scholastic achievement (P=0.024), high parentification degree (P=0.021), and severe and chronic parental mental illness (P=0.016, Conclusion The following contributed to the presence of mental illness in children: female gender, having a widowed or divorced parent, poor relationships with parents, living in nuclear families, maternal mental illness, low and very low socioeconomic class, decreased level of parents’ education, high degree of parentification, and chronicity and severity of parental illness. Mental illness significantly affects children’s academic performance. The type of mental illness in parents affects its type in children.