Parent, family interaction, and child predictors of outcome among sons at psychiatric risk.
This study was a longitudinal investigation of 95 families who previously had experienced the psychiatric hospitalization of a parent. Promising and/or proven parent, family interaction, and child predictors of 3-year outcome for the male offspring (beginning ages, 4, 7, and 10) were evaluated comparatively with correlations and multiple regressions. Among parent variables, chronicity of parent disorder and the degree of recovery between acute phases of disorder were broadly predictive of six diverse outcome indices. Variables that reflected diagnostic classifications were notably less successful. Time 1 child IQ was the best preditor of outcome, independent of all others; family interaction quality and degree of recovery were also prominent.
Harder
D W
DW
Psychology Department, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155.
Greenwald
D F
DF
D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010553:Personality Development; D012307:Risk Factors; D012917:Social Adjustment