[Influence of family history over several generations on schizophrenic patients--study of a special type of stem family where a husband is found for the heiress].
Family histories over several generations were studied, since it was considered that these might have various influences on the descendants, We hypothesized that poor home management policy by the parental generation would have greater influence on the onset of schizophrenia in the offsprings, and later their social adjustment. To test this theory, twenty families of a special type, called "mukotori-kazoku" in Japanese, which literally means a family that takes in a husband for the sole heiress in the absence of a male heir, were chosen; ten of these families had a schizophrenic patient (schizophrenic group) and the other ten did not (control group). In this type of stem family, the husband (bridegroom) changes his family name to that of the wife and lives with the wife's family, to whom he is generally obliged to devote himself. Such a "mukotori-kazoku" tends to be run mainly in order to preserve or develop the family, and thus provides a good model for investigation of home management policy. Before presenting the results of this study, our former findings should be mentioned. We found that there tends to be a cycle in the family history over several generations consisting of three periods: a period of destruction, a period of reconstruction and a period of stability. All of the schizophrenic patients we studied previously became ill as the cycle was approaching the period of stability. The results of the present study were as follows. In the schizophrenic group on the maternal side, there was always a period of destruction during the great-grandparents' and/or grandparents' generation. Most of the patients' mothers (heiresses) were forced to devote themselves to family reconstruction and had married unwillingly. Similarly, in the former generation on the paternal side, a period of destruction was often observed. Most of the patients' fathers had been treated as a nuisance in their family or origin, and had been obliged to marry out of the family, and/or they had considered that marriage was the easiest path to economic independence. The patients' family members were so indifferent to the father that he became isolated within the family.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Hasegawa
K
K
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Gunma University, School of Medicine.
Iseda
T
T
Kondo
C
C
Inoue
S
S
Nakashita
M
M
Watanuki
K
K
D000328:Adult; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000235:genetics*