Child Competence and Psychiatric Risk

Abstract

This study examined relationships between aspects of parent psychopathology and the behavioral competence of 101 children, as measured by peers and teachers in their school classrooms, from families in which at least one parent has been previously hospitalized for a functional psychiatric disorder. Since these children are at risk for present and future behavioral disorder and significant differences have already been established between this risk sample and control classmates, this study represented a further attempt to identify risk factors for future psychopathology in these children. Diagnostic classifications and continuous measures of overall psychological impairment were used for the hospitalized parent at the time of the most recent psychiatric hospitalization and at the time of the study, an average of 4.36 years later. These indices of parent psychiatric status were related to Fisher's measures of child school competence. Results indicated that the continuous measure of overall impairment at the time of the risk study was the aspect of parent pathology most highly related to child functioning, particularly in those areas reflecting cognitive functioning. DSM-III diagnosis at both time periods showed fewer and more equivocal significant relationships with child variables. These findings suggested that the usual, ongoing level of parent impairment is the most important factor of parent psychopathology relating to the functioning of the child. Diagnosis was less important, and neither the number of lifetime psychiatric hospitalizations nor recency of hospitalization was associated with child functioning.