Personality and neuropsychological performance of high-risk children

The present article reports findings on intelligence and personality functioning during the school period and at adolescence in a sample of kibbutz and urban Israeli children at risk for schizophrenia, as measured by a standard psychological test battery. On the first round of testing it was found that the index subjects, when compared with their controls, showed a significantly lower level in arithmetic proficiency, perceptual-motor functioning, and several specific verbal and thought patterns. These findings suggest an overall pattern of attentional dysfunctioning and a basic distortion in cognitive integration. Followup data did not show intergroup differences in perceptual-motor functioning, but did indicate a consistent picture of a significantly lower overall intelligence level and several indices of clear personality problems. No consistent sex or kibbutz-city differences were found. Findings are interpreted in the framework of a developmental model of vulnerability in subjects at risk for schizophrenia.