Effects of parental absence and institutionalization on the development of clinical symptoms in high-risk children.

Longitudinal data on 207 Danish subjects at high-risk for schizophrenia (they have schizophrenic mothers) were examined to assess the direct and indirect effects of parental absence and institutionalization on the development of schizophrenic symptomatology. Information on the amount of parental absence and institutional child care during the first through 10th year was collected in 1962. A psychiatric evaluation, consisting of a standardized interview and two questionnaires (PSE and CAPPS), was administered to the subjects in 1972. Factors were constructed relating to eight clinical symptoms from the interview and questionnaires. Path analyses were performed separately for males and females with maternal absence, paternal absence and institutionalization as the predictors and the clinical syndromes as the dependent variables. The analyses showed both direct effects of parental absence and indirect effects mediated by institutionalization. For males, the absence of a schizophrenic mother was related to decreased symptomatology, but only when it did not result in institutionalization. Institutionalization was related to increased symptoms in males but not females. These results are discussed in light of previous research, and explanations are offered for the differential effects by sex.