Disqualifying Family Communication and Childhood Social Competence as Predictors of Offspring's Mental Health and Hospitalization: A 10- to 14-Year Longitudinal Study of Children at Risk of Psychopathology

• Published in: The journal of nervous and mental disease Vol. 184; no. 10; pp. 581 - 588
• Main Authors: WICHSTRØM, LARS, ANDERSON, ANN MARTHA CHMIELEWSKI, HOLTE, ARNE, WYNNE, LYMAN C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hagerstown, MD Williams & Wilkins 01-10-1996; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Communication Barriers; Family; Family Health; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Mental Disorders - epidemiology; Mental Disorders - etiology; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Probability; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Social Adjustment; Human; Socioeconomic status; Parent; Hospitalization; Progeny; Follow up study; Adolescent; Young adult; Risk factor; Mental disorder; Familial relation; Social aptitude; Antecedent; Communication
• DOI: 10.1097/00005053-199610000-00001
• EISSN: 1539-736X
• ISSN: 0022-3018

Forty-nine families from the University of Rochester Child and Family Study were followed up 10 to 14 years after initial assessment. Two inclusion criteria were appliedat least one of the parents had been hospitalized for a functional psychiatric disorder before initial assessment and, second, the male index offspring should be 18 years or older at follow-up. Initial measures included observationally based coding of the family's level of disqualifying communication toward the index offspring, index child's scores on the Child Manifest Anxiety Scale, and ratings of the index child's social competence carried out by peers, teachers, and parents. Offspring outcome was measured by the Mental Health Inventory, Global Assessment Scale (GAS), and hospitalization for psychiatric disorder. The results showed that every measure of offspring outcome was predicted by the amount of disqualification directed to the offspring from the other family members. In addition, GAS score and mental health were predicted by the offspring's competence as a child. Family disqualification, childhood competence, and socioeconomic status accounted for 63% of the variance in adult GAS scores.