Thought disorder in offspring of schizophrenic parents: findings from the New York High-Risk Project.
The goal of the present analyses was to examine the hypothesis that mild forms of thought disorder (TD) may serve as an indicator of genetic liability for schizophrenia. A subset of 232 subjects drawn from the New York High-Risk Project was used to compare individuals at high risk for schizophrenia (ie, offspring of parents with schizophrenia; n = 63) with 2 groups of individuals at low risk for schizophrenia (ie, offspring of parents with affective disorder [n = 52] and offspring of psychiatrically normal parents [n = 117]). Subjects were administered the Rorschach Inkblot Test, and their responses were assessed according to the Thought Disorder Index (TDI). The high-risk offspring displayed significantly more TD than the other 2 groups, as shown by significantly higher TDI scores. Moreover, they had more deviant verbalizations, according to their significantly higher scores on a composite Idiosyncratic Verbalizations score. As expected, the offspring who developed psychosis produced more TD in adolescence than those who did not develop psychosis. In the sample as a whole, TD scores during late adolescence/early adulthood were positively associated with schizotypal features during mid-adulthood. These findings support the assertion that the presence of TD serves as an endophenotypic marker of a schizophrenia diathesis.
Gooding
Diane C
DC
Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA. dgooding@wisc.edu
Coleman
Michael J
MJ
Roberts
Simone A
SA
Shenton
Martha E
ME
Levy
Deborah L
DL
Erlenmeyer-Kimling
L
L
D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D058068:Endophenotypes; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012392:Rorschach Test; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000235:genetics*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012569:Schizotypal Personality Disorder; D055815:Young Adult