title: Attachment styles and psychopathology among adolescent children of parents with bipolar disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to compare attachment styles and psychopathology in adolescent children of parents with bipolar disorder (BD) with a healthy control group.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied 25 adolescents who had at least 1 parent with BD (BD group) and 28 adolescents who had no parents with BD (control group). The adolescent participants were between the ages of 12 and 17 years. We used the Adolescent Relationship Scales Questionnaire (A-RSQ) for the adolescents in the BD vs. control groups, and we used the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-age Children - present and lifetime version (K-SADS-PL). We used the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I), Clinician Version for each parent of adolescents in the BD and control groups to rule out psychopathologies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Attachment styles of participants were assessed according to A-RSQ, dismissing attachment style scores of adolescents in BD group were found significantly higher compared to the healthy control group (p<0.05). As a result of the assessments, 12 adolescents (48%) out of 25 in the BD group and 5 adolescents (18%) out of 28 in the control group were given DSM-IV Axis I diagnosis, which is a statistically significant result (p<0.05). However, when psychiatric diagnoses were assessed separately, the difference was not statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found that the adolescent children of parents with BD have increased risk of developing mental illnesses, and that these adolescents adopt dismissing attachment styles.
authors: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Sisli Hamidiye Etfal Training and Research Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey.
authors: Mustafa
authors: M
authors: Erkan
authors: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Yuzuncu Yil University School of Medicine, Van, Turkey.
authors: Salih
authors: S
authors: Gencoglan
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Mardin State Hospital, Mardin, Turkey.
authors: Leyla
authors: L
authors: Akguc
authors: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Akdeniz University School of Medicine, Antalya, Turkey.
authors: Esin
authors: E
authors: Ozatalay
authors: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , Akdeniz University School of Medicine, Antalya, Turkey.
authors: Emine Cigil
authors: EC
authors: Fettahoglu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011599:Psychopathology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires