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Differences as a Function of the Sex of the Sick Parent

Helen Orvaschel, PhD; Sarnoff Mednick, PhD, MD; Fini Schulsinger, MD; Donald Rock, PhD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1979;36(6):691-695.

Abstract
• To examine the effects of the sex of a psychiatrically disturbed parent on the offspring, we compared children of a schizophrenic parent, a psychiatrically disturbed but not schizophrenic parent, and a normal parent using behavioral, attentional, and neurological indices. Results of a discriminant analysis indicate that children of psychiatrically disturbed mothers have an increased sensitivity to tactile stimulation, possibly reflecting more labile autonomic nervous system functioning. In addition, children with a schizophrenic parent of either sex show evidence of neurological motor dysfunction.

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn (Dr Orvaschel); the Social Science Research Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles (Dr Mednick); the Psykologist Institut, Kommunehospitalet, Copenhagen (Drs Mednick and Schulsinger); and the Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ (Dr Rock).

Footnotes
Accepted for publication June 18, 1978.

Reprint requests to Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 904 Howard Ave, Suite 2A, New Haven, CT 06519 (Dr Orvaschel).

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