PARENTAL LOSS BY DEATH IN CHILDHOOD AS AN ETIOLOGICAL FACTOR AMONG SCHIZOPHRENIC AND ALCOHOLIC PATIENTS COMPARED WITH A NON-PATIENT COMMUNITY SAMPLE

Abstract

A hospital sample consisting of 1,561 schizophrenic patients and 929 alcoholic patients is compared with a control sample of 1,096 cases obtained through random sampling of an area characteristic of that from which the patient group came. Ages for all groups ranged from 20 through 49 years. Although 25.6% of both schizophrenic and alcoholic populations had lost one or both parents by death prior to age 19, this difference from the control was significant only for the schizophrenic group, with a chi-square of 6.76, significant beyond the .01 level. Because of rate of parent loss in the control group rose steadily with age, the fact that the alcoholic patients were older at entry meant that the "expected" loss for this group rose to 25.0% after adjustment of the age factor. The younger the patient at admission (age 20-49), the greater was the per cent of loss over and beyond that experienced by the controls. Among schizophrenic patients aged 20-29 (N = 487), parent loss totaled 22.4%, compared with a control figure of 15.3% (X2 = 7.29, p < .01); for the decade 30-39 (N = 663), parent loss among schizophrenics was 26.1% and among normals 20.4% (X2 = 3.84, p <.05); for the decade 40-49, both schizophrenic and controls showed a high rate of loss and the difference between them was negligible. Among the alcoholics, for the total age group 20-39, the parent loss was higher than among the controls by a significant amount (X2 = 12.8, p < .001). The data were analyzed according to sex of the patient and sex of the parent lost, with the following results: (1) Neither male nor female schizophrenic patients aged 20 through 30 at the time of admission to the hospital differed from the control group in the per cent with loss of a father by death prior to patient age 19. (2) Both male and female schizophrenic patients in this age group at time of admission had suffered the loss of a mother in childhood by an amount which differed significantly from the control group. (3) Female alcoholic patients showed no differences in parent loss of either father or mother, as compared with the control group. (4) Younger male alcoholic patients differed from the control group in amount of loss of both father and mother. A curvilinear relationship between age at admission and rate of parental death is considered. Scrutiny of schizophrenic cases where the patients entered below the age of 20 shows no increased rate of parental loss for this youngest age group. When it is recalled that the oldest group, age 40 to 49 showed no increased rate of loss over the controls, the greater rate shown by those entering when they were 20-29 and 30-39 makes such a curvilinear relationship a distinct possibility. The hypothesis is advanced that the pressures exerted by role transition from immaturity to adult responsibility may be much more difficult in a matrix where the personality has experienced a traumatic deficit in parental protection during childhood. Parent loss, thus, is one of the factors associated with an increased vulnerability in coping with the stresses of adult life.