Am J Psychiatry 1988; 145:506-509
Copyright © 1988 by American Psychiatric Association
A follow-up investigation of offspring of parents with bipolar disorder
C Zahn-Waxler, A Mayfield, M Radke-Yarrow, DH McKnew, L Cytryn and YB Davenport
Laboratory of Developmental Psychology, NIMH, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Seven male children who each had a manic-depressive parent (five alos had a
parent with unipolar depression) and 12 control children were studied. The
proband children had shown a range of adjustment problems as infants and
toddlers. Four years later, they continued to have substantial behavior
problems, including ones that could be classified as DSM-III psychiatric
diagnoses. On the basis of psychiatric interviews and psychological
assessments, the proband children received more DSM-III diagnoses than the
control children. Proband children reported internalizing symptoms; this
pattern was corroborated by their mothers, who also characterized these
children as showing antisocial behavior patterns.
