Am J Psychiatry 1976; 133:1316-1318
Copyright © 1976 by American Psychiatric Association
Studies of adoptees from psychiatrically disturbed biological parents. III. Medical symptoms and illnesses in childhood and adolescence
RJ Cadoret, L Cunningham, R Loftus and J Edwards
Analysis of data gathered from interviews with adoptive parents supports
the hypothesis that female adoptees of antisocial biological backgrounds
might have higher percentages of somatic symptoms. The authors compared
female adoptees of antisocial parentage with male and female controls, male
adoptees of antisocial parentage, and male and female adoptees whose
biological parents had other psychiatric conditions. They stress the
importance of this hypothesis in the diagnosis and management of childhood
and adolescent "medical" and behavioral problems.
