Features in families of autistic children and healthy controls in comparison

Objectives. Standardized assessment of family features is not used routinely although these factors may play an important role in the course of psychological disorders in children. Thus the aim of the present study was to investigate families of autistic children with regard to differences within the features in their families using standardized instruments. Methods. The families of 115 autistic children (55 boys, 60 girls) diagnosed (aged 6-12y) by means of the Mannheim Parents Interview (Esser et al., 1989) were included for evaluation and compared with a matched, healthy control group. Parents were asked to complete a questionnaire assessing the family features ("Familienklima-Testsystem", Schneewind et al., 1985). Results. The results show that there are significantly more conflicts in families whose children are autistic than in control families. Compared to the matched healthy control group, there is a significant lack of organization and coherence in the dissocial group. Conclusions. Our results strongly suggest, that there seems to be a significant influence of psychosis on the family's coherence and organization which should make therapists focus their efforts not only on the "index" children as such but also on their families.