A new study has found that children whose parents have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder are more likely to develop mental health problems. The research was published in the journal European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
The study examined how both clinical and social factors of parents influence the mental health of their children. It confirms the elevated risk and provides new insights into what increases or reduces the chances of psychopathology in these children.
“This study confirms the higher risk and helps us understand which factors affect the mental health of patients’ children,” said Josefina Castro Fornieles, the study coordinator and a researcher at the Mental Health Networking Biomedical Research Centre (CIBERSAM), University of Barcelona, Hospital Clínic, and IDIBAPS. The research was done in collaboration with Dolores Moreno’s team from Gregorio Marañón University Hospital in Madrid.
Researchers followed 238 children aged 6 to 17 for four years. Some children had parents with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, while others were part of a control group with parents who did not have these conditions. The team assessed the children at the start and end of the study.
They looked at several factors, including psychiatric diagnoses of both parents and children, family income, parents’ age at childbirth, and the presence of early warning signs linked to schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
The study found that children of parents with schizophrenia were more likely to show signs of attention deficit disorder, disruptive behavior, and mild psychotic symptoms. For children of parents with bipolar disorder, mood disorders, attention deficit disorder, and subclinical bipolar symptoms were more common.
“Symptom patterns differ depending on the parent’s diagnosis,” explained Elena de la Serna, CIBERSAM researcher at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona and first author of the article.
However, the research also identified factors that can reduce these risks. Children whose parents had better social and emotional functioning, and who came from higher-income families, were less likely to develop mental health problems. This highlights the importance of family support and social stability in protecting mental health.
This work is part of the BASYS (Bipolar and Schizophrenia Young Offspring Study) project. It supports the need for regular follow-up and early intervention in children of parents with severe mental illness.
“Although larger studies are still needed, this research helps us understand how mental health vulnerabilities are passed down from parents to children,” the research team concluded.
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