Social competence and positive and negative symptoms: a longitudinal study of children and adolescents at risk for schizophrenia and affective disorders

Researchers have increasing emphasized the distinction between positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Positive symptoms include delusions, hallucinations, and certain types of thought disorder; flat affect and other types of thought disorder are considered negative symptoms. These groups of symptoms are hypothesized to represent different underlying processes in the disease. In the present study, positive and negative symptoms and social competence were measured in 44 children at risk for schizophrenia, 38 children at risk for affective disorders (e.g., depression), and 62 matched normal children. The children were considered at-risk for a particular disorder, if they had a parent with that disorder. The study was longitudinal in design; at the first assessment, children were an average of 9 years old; at the second, they were an average of 12.3 years old; and at the third evaluation, they were an average of 15.4 years old; representing childhood, early adolescence, and adolescence, respectively. In childhood, there were no significant group differences on measures of social competence, negative symptoms, or positive symptoms as rated by standardized scales. By early adolescence, however, children at risk for schizophrenia began to show a deficit in social competence compared with the normal control children and the children at risk for affective disorders. They also had more positive thought disorders than children at risk for affective disorder, but they did not differ from normal children in this regard. There were no differences among the groups on negative symptoms. In adolescence, children at risk for schizophrenia maintained a relatively poor level of social competence compared with the other groups and had greater positive and negative symptoms. It is concluded that children at risk for schizophrenia are more likely than others to have social deficits in early adolescence and adolescence, and these children also have greater positive and negative symptoms in adolescence. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)