Neurobehavioral functioning and social behavior of children at risk for schizophrenia.

The neurobehavioral functioning and social behavior of children with mentally ill and mentally healthy parents were examined. The children, 8 to 13 years of age, were assessed with a battery of neurobehavioral tests. The children's teachers rated their interpersonal behavior. Each of the families was rated on quality of childbearing environment. Children of schizophrenic parents performed more poorly on the neurobehavioral tests, in particular those assessing perceptual-cognitive functioning, than children of parents with other psychiatric disorders or with no history of mental illness. There were no group differences in aggressive behavior. Sons of schizophrenic parents were rated as more withdrawn than the other children in the study. The relationship between childrearing environment, neurobehavioral functioning, and social behavior was in the expected direction for the children of mentally healthy parents. An atypical pattern emerged for the offspring of mentally ill parents.