ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the parent-child relationship in two instances of negative child outcomes: children and especially adolescents who suffer from depression or schizophrenia. It examines the impact of children’s emotional problems on the parent-child relationship, as well as the effect that external agents, such as professionals and relatives, exert on this relationship and on parental burden. Schizophrenic parents, or other emotionally disturbed parents, present an environmental risk: the parents’ symptoms may interfere with proper parenting, impair the quality of the parent-child relationship, and result in stressful family transitions such as unemployment, poverty, serious marital discord, divorce, and institutionalization. In models using a combined genetic and environmental causality, estimates of the risk for developing schizophrenia or depression vary from study to study. An important aspect of children’s emotional problems and conduct disorders pertains to the parents’ relationship with professionals, especially psychiatrists, psychologists, and clinical caseworker.
