Interpersonal functioning in adolescent offspring of parents with bipolar disorder.
BACKGROUND
Poor interpersonal functioning may represent a putative prodromal feature of major affective disorder. However, no studies have examined the naturalistic patterns of social behaviours among the offspring of parents with a major affective disorder. The present study assessed daily social interactions among 25 offspring of parents with bipolar disorder and 23 control participants in late adolescence and young adulthood.


METHODS
Using event-contingent recording procedures, interpersonal behaviours and perceptions were assessed along four scales (quarrelsomeness, agreeableness, dominance, and submissiveness) and were measured during specific social interactions over 14 days.


RESULTS
Multilevel modeling analyses revealed no group differences on any of the four scales, but gender by group interactions were was observed. High-risk males reported higher mean levels of quarrelsome behaviour and lower mean levels of agreeable behaviour than high-risk females, whereas low-risk males and females reported comparable levels of affiliative behaviours. High-risk participants reported more externalizing, but not internalizing, problems on the Achenbach Youth Self-Report Form than low-risk participants.


CONCLUSIONS
Although event-contingent recording reduces the self-report bias associated with self-report questionnaires, participants may have been biased in the selection of interactions they chose to record.


CONCLUSIONS
Overall, the offspring of parents with BD, relative to controls, report no deficits in social functioning in the natural environment. However, high-risk youth displayed elevated externalizing problems and gender-specific patterns of social functioning that may precede the development of major affective disorder.
Linnen
Anne-Marie
AM
Centre for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, Montréal (Québec), Canada.
aan het Rot
Marije
M
Ellenbogen
Mark A
MA
Young
Simon N
SN
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D002170:Canada; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004291:Dominance-Subordination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D055361:Multilevel Analysis; D010290:Parents; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult