Intelligence, classroom behavior, and academic achievement in children at high and low risk for psychopathology: A structural equation analysis

Abstract

The intelligence, academic achievement, and classroom behavior of 158 children were assessed in a sample that is being followed longitudinally. The sample included children at high risk for mental disorder by virtue of having a parent with a psychiatric diagnosis of schizophrenia or affective disorder, children at moderate risk, and children at low risk. A series of path analyses indicated that in this sample (1) classroom behavior was more likely an affect that a cause of academic achievement, and (2) the influence of parental psychopathology on classroom behavior was mediated by a child's intelligence and academic achievement. We were unable to substantiate an unmediated causal link between parental psychopathology and children's academic achievement or classroom behavior.

The Relationship between Cognitive Functions and Behavioral Deviance in Children At Risk for Psychopathology

“…Cohler, Grunebaum, Weiss, Gamer & Gallent, 1977;Worland & Hesselbrock, 1980;Worland et al, 1984). However, the findings from the digit-span task are not consistent with previous reports of children at risk for schizophrenia performing significantly worse than normal controls (Harvey, Winters, Weintraub & Neale, 1981;Neale et al, 1984).…”

“…Cognitive as well as behavioral deficits have been linked to various risk factors, including parental psychiatric disorder (Worland, Weeks, Janes & Strock, 1984) and maltreatment (Reidy etal., 1980). In children at risk for schizophrenia, these deficits have been found on IQ^test performance (Aylward, Walker & Bettes, 1984), as well as on more specific measures of attentional functions (Cornblatt & Erlenmeyer-Kimling, 1985;Neuchterlein, 1983).…”

Neurocognition in youth and young adults under age 30 at familial risk for schizophrenia: A quantitative and qualitative review

“…In the Emory HR Project, at the time of first testing there was a significant difference in IQ between FHR and normal risk children, with a moderate ES of −0.544, while no significant difference in IQ at the second and third study assessments occurring in successive years (Goodman, 1987). In the St. Louis HR Project, children were tested at two time points and FHR children showed impairment relative to controls in FSIQ at both time points (Worland, Weeks, Janes & Strock, 1984). Thus most of the longitudinal studies demonstrated that IQ deficits among FHR individuals were relatively stable (consistent with Woodberry, et al, 2008); (although among those who develop schizophrenia, the prodromal period is likely to be associated with a decline in cognition, which was not measured in these studies).…”

“…There are ample examples in the adult literature illustrating that when psychiatric contrasts groups are included, ESs are notably attenuated or negligible. While several of the studies we reviewed included a group at high risk for a non-psychotic psychiatric disorder (Erlenmeyer-Kimling, et al 1987; Weintraub, 1987; Worland, et al, 1984; Goodman, 1987; Maziade et al 2009), this was not the majority of studies, and future research would likely benefit from including both a normatively developing control group and a contrast comparison group made up of other disorders.…”

Assessing Custodial Mother Adjustment to Divorce

“…They found that parental depression and ineffective parenting practices explained a significant portion of the association between divorce and both adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. Results of several studies suggest that children of depressed parents show deficits in academic performance, school behavior, and social competence relative to children of mood-stabilized parents (Weintraub, Winters, & Neale, 1986;Worland, Weeks, James, & Strock, 1984). Billings and Moos (1983) further note that children of parents whose depression has remitted continued to show higher rates of problems than normal controls, indicating that the risk to children Zimmerman,Brown,and Portes 3 may persist beyond the acute stages of the parent's disorder.…”