An independent analysis of the Copenhagen sample of the Danish Adoption Study of Schizophrenia. V. The relationship between childhood social withdrawal and adult schizophrenia

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between childhood behavioral disturbances and adult schizophrenia in the Copenhagen sample of the Danish Adoption Study of Schizophrenia. Using blindly rated information from interviews with adult relatives, childhood social withdrawal (CSW) and antisocial, but not anxious, traits were significantly more common in the biologic relatives of all adoptees with schizophrenia and "chronic schizophrenia" than in the biologic relatives of control adoptees. These traits were equally frequent in the adoptive relatives of schizophrenics and controls. Biologic relatives of schizophrenics with CSW were at high risk as adults for development of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Although retrospective bias in reporting childhood traits cannot be ruled out, these results suggest that CSW and possibly antisocial traits are linked genetically to adult schizophrenia.