Related Experiment Videos
Neurobehavioral deficits at adolescence in children at risk for schizophrenia: The Jerusalem Infant Development Study
S L Hans1, J Marcus, K H Nuechterlein
1Department of Psychiatry, The University of Chicago, Ill 60637, USA.
Insights
Children of parents with schizophrenia show persistent neurobehavioral deficits, indicating a vulnerability to schizophrenia spectrum disorders and impacting overall mental adjustment.
Area of Science:
- Developmental neuroscience
- Psychiatric genetics
- Child and adolescent psychiatry
Background:
- The Jerusalem Infant Development Study prospectively follows children of parents with and without mental disorders.
- Early neurobehavioral deficits in offspring of schizophrenic parents were hypothesized as vulnerability indicators.
- This study examines neurobehavioral deficits in adolescence and their long-term implications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify neurobehavioral deficits in adolescents with a parental history of schizophrenia.
- To assess the temporal stability of these neurobehavioral deficits.
- To explore the relationship between neurobehavioral functioning and concurrent mental adjustment.
Main Methods:
- Sixty-five Israeli adolescents underwent neurologic and neuropsychological assessments.
- Psychiatric interviews yielded best-estimate diagnoses and global adjustment scores.
- Neurobehavioral functioning was assessed using motor and cognitive-attentional variables.
Main Results:
- Adolescents with poor neurobehavioral functioning were identified.
- Offspring of schizophrenic parents, particularly males, showed disproportionately higher rates of poor neurobehavioral functioning.
- Early deficits persisted, correlating with poor adolescent psychiatric adjustment and schizophrenia spectrum diagnoses.
Conclusions:
- Lifelong neurobehavioral signs may indicate schizophrenia vulnerability in genetically at-risk individuals.
- These neurobehavioral signs are linked to general psychiatric adjustment.
- Poor neurobehavioral functioning is specifically associated with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
Background:
The Jerusalem Infant Development Study is a prospective investigation comparing offspring of schizophrenic parents with offspring of parents who have no mental disorder or have nonschizophrenic mental disorders. During infancy and school age, a subgroup of offspring of schizophrenic parents showed global neurobehavioral deficits that were hypothesized to be indicators of vulnerability to schizophrenia. The purposes of the present investigation were to determine if neurobehavioral deficits were present in the offspring of schizophrenics at adolescence, to examine their stability over time, and to explore their relation to concurrent mental adjustment.
Methods:
Sixty-five Israeli adolescents were assessed on a battery of neurologic and neuropsychological assessments. They were also administered psychiatric interviews from which best-estimate DSM-III-R diagnoses and scores of global adjustment were derived.
Results:
Adolescents with poor neurobehavioral functioning were identified from composites of motor and cognitive-attentional variables. A disproportionate number of offspring of schizophrenic parents (42%; 10/24), and especially male offspring of schizophrenic parents (73%; 8/11), showed poor neurobehavioral functioning relative to offspring of nonschizophrenic parents (22%; 9/41). Adolescent offspring of schizophrenics with poor neurobehavioral functioning had been poorly functioning at earlier ages and had poor psychiatric adjustment at adolescence. All 4 offspring of schizophrenics receiving schizophrenia spectrum diagnoses by adolescence showed a pattern of poor neurobehavioral functioning across developmental periods.
Conclusions:
Results are consistent with the hypothesis that individuals at genetic risk for schizophrenia may display lifelong neurobehavioral signs that are indicators of vulnerability to schizophrenia and that are associated with psychiatric adjustment generally and schizophrenic spectrum disorder specifically.