Interpersonal behavior of preschizophrenic children: a study of home-movies

This study used an interpersonal coding scheme to compare the childhood behavior of adult-diagnosed schizophrenics and their nearest in age, normal sibling. Subjects consisted of 14 preschizophrenics (11 male and 3 female) and 14 sibling controls (8 male and 6 female) depicted in home movies between the ages of five and ten inclusive. Data were analyzed in two age groups: 5-7 vs. 8-10. Preschizophrenics were found to display more frequent negative affect between the ages of 5-7, but this difference disappeared in the 8-10 year age group. This finding is consistent with existing literature on affect development and represents the first directly observed evidence of developmental deviance in preschizophrenic subjects before the age of 11.