Parental age in child psychiatric clinic attenders

Parental age was detailed from medical records of all children treated or observed as inpatients at the Child and Youth Psychiatric University Clinic of Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1975, and compared with corresponding figures for parental age of children in the general population. Psychotic children and psychotic adolescents tended to have mothers (and fathers) who were older than average. Sixty per cent of mothers of psychotic children were 30 years or older at the time of birth of the child compared with 27% of children in the general population. Children with emotional disorders showed the same mean maternal age as average children in the population. It is suggested that children and adolescents with psychotic disorders have a higher level of "organic" background factors than children with other kinds of child psychiatric disorders.