Attention in Young Children of Psychotic Mothers
HENRY GRUNEBAUM M.D.1,
JUSTIN L. WEISS PH.D.2,
DAVID GALLANT PH.D.3, , and
BERTRAM J. COHLER PH.D.4
1 Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, 74 Fenwood Rd., Boston, Mass. 02115
2 Chief Psychologist, Clinical Psychology Service, Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Boston, Mass.
3 Director, Head Start Evaluation Program, Judge Baker Guidance Center, Boston, Mass.
4 Assistant Professor, Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
The authors report findings from an investigation of cognitive and attentional development in 53 children of psychotic mothers and their matched controls demonstrating the presence of developmental lag in the high-risk children and suggesting the existence of relationships between parental and child measures of these functions. The children of schizophrenic mothers appear to be especially vulnerable to attentional deficit.
