The Psychiatric Adjustment of the Adopting Parents of Schizophrenics
PAUL H. WENDER M.D.1,
DAVID ROSENTHAL PH.D.2,
THEODORE P. ZAHN PH.D.3, , and
SEYMOUR S. KETY M.D.4
1 Research Psychiatrist, Laboratory of Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Md. 20014
2 Chief, Laboratory of Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Md. 20014
3 Head, Unit of Psychophysiology, Laboratory of Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Md. 20014
4 Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Mass, Laboratory of Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Md. 20014
This study attempted to separate the relative roles of experiential and genetic factors in the etiology of schizophrenia by studying the psychiatric and psychological characteristics of a group of adopting parents of schizophrenics and comparing these parents with the biological parents of schizophrenics and the adopting parents of normal subjects. The results indicate that the biological parents of schizophrenics are appreciably more disturbed than the adopting parents of schizophrenics, who are in turn slightly more disturbed than the adopting parents of normals.
