Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify premorbid factors which predict schizophrenia in children with schizophrenic mothers. It is our hope that such factors will also be relevant to unselected populations. We have been following a group of 207 children of schizophrenic mothers and 104 controls for 23 years. In 1986 these individuals will average 39 years of age (range = 35 to 44) and will have passed through the major part of the risk period for schizophrenia. We propose a final diagnostic interview to obtain lifetime diagnoses. In addition, social data, CT scan measures of brain morphology and measurements of smooth-pursuit eye movements will be collected. The study is guided by a theoretical orientation which posits that individuals with a genetic liability for schizophrenia who suffer environmental stress (perinatal and/or social stress) have an increased risk for schizophrenia. Individuals with comparable genetic risk but spared from serious environmental stress exhibit schizotypal features.

  Funding Agency

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01MH041469-01
Application #
3380083
Study Section
(PCBA)
Project Start
1986-05-01
Project End
1989-04-30
Budget Start
1986-05-01
Budget End
1987-04-30
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
1986
Total Cost
Indirect Cost

  Institution

Name
Psychological Institute
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Copenhagen
State
Country
Denmark
Zip Code

  Publications

Thygesen, Johan Hilge; Zambach, Sine Katharina; Ingason, Andrés et al. (2015) Linkage and whole genome sequencing identify a locus on 6q25-26 for formal thought disorder and implicate MEF2A regulation. Schizophr Res 169:441-446
Raballo, Andrea; Parnas, Josef (2011) The silent side of the spectrum: schizotypy and the schizotaxic self. Schizophr Bull 37:1017-26
Raballo, Andrea; Saebye, Ditte; Parnas, Josef (2011) Looking at the schizophrenia spectrum through the prism of self-disorders: an empirical study. Schizophr Bull 37:344-51
Vaever, Mette S; Licht, Deborah M; Moller, Lise et al. (2005) Thinking within the spectrum: schizophrenic thought disorder in six Danish pedigrees. Schizophr Res 72:137-49
Higgins, J; Gore, R; Gutkind, D et al. (1997) Effects of child-rearing by schizophrenic mothers: a 25-year follow-up. Acta Psychiatr Scand 96:402-4
Hollister, J M; Mednick, S A; Brennan, P et al. (1994) Impaired autonomic nervous system-habituation in those at genetic risk for schizophrenia. Arch Gen Psychiatry 51:552-8
LaFosse, J M; Mednick, S A; Praestholm, J et al. (1994) The influence of parental socioeconomic status on CT studies of schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 11:285-90
Parnas, J; Cannon, T D; Jacobsen, B et al. (1993) Lifetime DSM-III-R diagnostic outcomes in the offspring of schizophrenic mothers. Results from the Copenhagen High-Risk Study. Arch Gen Psychiatry 50:707-14
Cannon, T D; Mednick, S A; Parnas, J (1990) Antecedents of predominantly negative- and predominantly positive-symptom schizophrenia in a high-risk population. Arch Gen Psychiatry 47:622-32
Parnas, J; Jorgensen, A; Teasdale, T W et al. (1988) Temporal course of symptoms and social functioning in relapsing schizophrenics: a 6-year follow-up. Compr Psychiatry 29:361-71

Showing the most recent 10 out of 11 publications