Childhood social competence in functionally disordered psychiatric patients and in normals.

Abstract

Childhood social competence in schizophrenics, personality disordered patients, psychotic depressives, neurotics, and normals was assessed. The results indicate that children eventually hospitalized for schizophrenia are characterized by their poor interpersonal skills long before symptom onset; academic competence failed to differentiate the various groups. Not all serious psychiatric disorder is preceded by poor social competence, as indicated by the psychotic depressives whose competence scores were not significantly different from the normals'. Analysis of sex and Sex x Diagnosis effects revealed that females were more competent than males regardless of psychiatric status. This may reflect primarily greater conformity to teacher expectations for appropriate school behavior. The absence of significant interaction effects suggests that previously reported sex differences in premorbid social competence are not specific to schizophrenic disorders.

A Population-Based Cohort Study of Premorbid Intellectual, Language, and Behavioral Functioning in Patients With Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder, and Nonpsychotic Bipolar Disorder

“…However, premorbid abnormalities associated with affective disorders seem to be less severe than those associated with schizophrenia (21). The group differences are less consistent, with premorbid cognitive and behavioral abnormalities reported in some (9,(20)(21)(22), but not all (1,3,14,15,23) studies of nonschizophrenic affective psychosis, possibly owing to differences in inclusion of affective disorder patients with or without psychotic symptoms.…”

“…Studies directly comparing the premorbid functioning of persons with schizophrenia and those with affective psychosis have shown greater impairments in intellectual and social functioning in the schizophrenia group (22,31,32). Studies comparing social and intellectual functioning during childhood in future affective psychosis patients, compared with healthy comparison subjects, have reported mixed results: some found no significant premorbid social or intellectual abnormalities in future affective psychosis patients (3,14,23,30), and others have found such abnormalities (20,21,33).…”

Understanding Gender Differences in Referral of Children to Mental Health Services

“…Academic competence may be a powerful mediating variable in the referral of children to mental health services, especially at the first step of a teacher's decision to refer a child. Girls tend to receive higher ratings for academic competence than boys, both in clinical populations and in the general population of children (Achenbach et aL, 1991;Hodges & Plow, 1990;Lewine, Watt, Prentky, & Fryer, 1980;Smith, 1988). If academic competence influences teachers' judgments about need for referral, then girls may be less likely than boys to receive treatment because they perform better in the classroom, and this greater academic competence may lead teachers to refer them less often.…”

Genetic modelling of childhood social development and personality in twins and siblings with schizophrenia

“…The aetiology of these deficits has in the past been unclear, with both genetic and environmental origins proposed (Sobel, 1961 ;Ragins et al 1975 ;Hans et al 2000Hans et al , 2005Shim et al 2008). The core of these pre-schizophrenia social deficits centre on the quality of peer relationships (Lewine et al 1980), especially with people of the opposite sex (Dworkin et al 1994 ;Malmberg et al 1998), through social immaturity and peer rejection (Hans et al 2000). The more extreme the difficulties in establishing and maintaining peer relationships, the greater the future risk for schizophrenia (Malmberg et al 1998).…”