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Family Interaction Styles Of Children With Depressive Disorders, Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorders, And Normal Controls, Elizabeth Hamilton, Joan Asarnow, Martha Tompson

Faculty Publications - Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) Program

Family interaction processes during a problem-solving task were examined in children with depressive disorders, children with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, and a normal control group of community children screened for the absence of psychiatric disorder. Major findings were: a) children with depressive disorders were more likely than children with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders and children with no psychiatric disorder to direct guilt-inducing comments toward their parents; and b) parents of children with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders were more likely to direct harsh critical comments toward the child than were parents of depressed children or parents of normal controls. In addition, children's and mothers' use of benign …