Gender differences in family attitudes about schizophrenia

Recent studies have found that the expressed emotion (EE) status of relatives of female schizophrenics may not possess the prognostic value found previously for male schizophrenics. In the present study, relatives of 110 recent onset schizophrenic patients were assessed using the Camberwell Family Interview (CFI-EE), the Five Minute Speech Sample Method (FMSS-EE) and a measure of Affective Style (AS) to determine whether affective attitudes or behaviours varied by patient gender. Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) ratings made during in-patient and out-patient periods were examined to assess patient symptomatology. No differences were found by patient gender for CFI-EE, FMSS-EE, or subcomponents of the CFI-EE measure. However, when the subcomponents on the FMSS associated with a high EE critical rating were examined, males were found to be recipients of more harsh criticism than female patients. Similarly, for the AS measure, there was a distinct subgroup of male patients who received a level of criticism not seen in female patients. When the concordance across the two EE measures was examined, relatives of males were more consistent in their affective attitudes than relatives of female patients. Analysis of the BPRS data from the in-patient to the out-patient periods suggested variations by patient gender which may explain some of the differences in relatives' affective attitudes.