Study shows elevated risk of psychopathology in children of people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder

A new study confirms that children of people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder have a higher risk of developing psychopathology compared to children whose parents do not have these conditions. The study, published in the journal European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, examines how the clinical and social characteristics of parents influence the mental health of their offspring.

"The study confirms this increased risk and helps to better understand what factors influence mental health problems patients' children", says Josefina Castro Fornieles, coordinator of the study and researcher in the Mental Health Networking Biomedical Research Centre (CIBERSAM), at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Barcelona, Hospital Clínic and the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS). The study has been carried out in collaboration with the team of the researcher Dolores Moreno, from the Gregorio Marañón University Hospital in Madrid.

Experts followed the children of patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder for four years, comparing them with a control group of parents without these pathologies. The study included 238 children (aged 6-17), who were assessed at the beginning and end of this period. The researchers analysed variables such as parents' and children's psychiatric diagnoses, family socioeconomic status, parents' age at childbirth and the presence of subclinical symptoms related to schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

In addition, symptom patterns vary according to parental diagnosis. The study reveals that children of people with schizophrenia have a higher risk of attention deficit disorder, disruptive disorders and subclinical psychotic symptoms. In the case of bipolar disorder, children of affected patients show a higher prevalence of mood disorders, attention deficit disorder and subclinical bipolar symptoms".

Elena de la Serna, CIBERSAM researcher at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona and first author of the article

The study also highlights factors that can mitigate this risk. Thus, better parental psychosocial functioning and higher socioeconomic status are associated with a lower presence of mental health problems in children, underlining the relevance of family and social interventions.

This study, which is part of the BASYS (Bipolar and Schizophrenia Young Offspring Study) project, reinforces the importance of long-term follow-up of children of patients with severe mental illness and raises the need for preventive strategies in these high-risk populations.

"Although studies with larger samples are needed, this one contributes to a better understanding of the mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of vulnerability to mental disorders in childhood and adolescence", the team concludes.