ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the prediction of childhood characteristics in the offspring of schizophrenics from observations made during infancy. It focuses on two types of indicators that have been examined in the literature on high-risk children in the infant age range. Neurological dysfunctions have been reported more consistently in school-age children of schizophrenic parents. The relationship between obstetric factors and neurological signs in high-risk children is also unresolved. A sample of 22 children at high risk for schizophrenia was ascertained by screening the Collaborative Perinatal Project (CPP) files for children from the New York State subsample whose parents reported any history of treatment for a psychiatric disorder. Neurological findings on children at risk for schizophrenia are more promising. Thus, whereas the data on the subgroup of high-risk children in the New York CPP sample are suggestive as indicating vulnerability to schizophrenia, they remain to be corroborated with further studies, including comparisons with offspring of parents with other psychiatric disorders.
