The Adopted-Away Offspring of Schizophrenics

Abstract

In this study, adopted-away children of schizophrenics were compared with 67 controls—adoptees whose parents had no known psychiatric history. The rate of diagnoses in the "schizophrenia spectrum" was 31.6 percent for the entire index group, compared to 17.8 percent for the control group. The authors believe that evidence from this study supports the theory that heredity plays a significant role in the etiology of schizophrenia spectrum disorders.