Health and Behavior; Frontiers of Research in the Biobehavioral Sciences

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1982 edition. Excerpt: ...the association (cf. Chapter 12). There also may be a connection with disordered families. For example, fathers are more likely to be absent in low-status families. Some families can be characterized as having inappropriate communication, deviant or atypical role structures, and a negative emotional environment. Individuals who go through crucial developmental stages in such a setting appear to be at particular risk of later developing schizophrenia. In a five-year prospective study, Doane et al. (1981) identified deviant communication patterns within the family and parental expression of sustained negative feelings toward an adolescent as risk factors of schizophrenia. Although useful, such a study cannot prove that these factors increase the risk of becoming schizophrenic. For example, perhaps genes that create vulnerability to schizophrenia also cause deviant communication patterns in the family. Studies of adopted or cross-fostered subjects could help to distinguish among alternative explanations. One of the best-documented environmental influences on a mental disorder is that of disordered family relationships on schizophrenia relapse. As with depression, schizophrenics in remission are more likely to relapse if they return to family settings with high expressed emotion. Thus, over 50 percent of schizophrenic patients returning to such a home relapsed, compared with 13 percent of patients returning to a home with low expressed emotion (Brown et al., 1972). A more complete understanding of the effects of family relationships on the course of schizophrenia might suggest new preventive approaches for breaking the familiar cycle of hos-pitalization, remission, relapse, and rehospitalization. Precipitation and Perpetuation The importance of...