An Explanatory Model to Predict Pediatric Psychosis Spectrum Based on Parent Psychiatric Profile and Children and Adolescents Comorbid Disorders as a Mediator Construct

Psychosis is one of the most vital disorders in children and youths. The definite pathophysiology of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders in the growth period has remained ambiguous. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to investigate the predictive value of parental psychiatric disorders and the mediator role of comorbid disorders of children and youths.

The sample, consisting of 29884 individuals aged between 6 to 18 years old from the Iranian population, were selected by multistage cluster sampling during September 22, 2016 to January 3, 2018. Parents were requested to complete a survey around their potential psychiatric disorders, based on their Millon’s Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III). The Semi-Structured Interview (Kiddie-SADS-Present, Lifetime Form (K-SADS-PL)) was utilized to analyze psychiatric disorders concurring to the DSM.

The fit indices of the model show that the research model has a good fit and the psychiatric disorders of parents directly and indirectly through comorbid disorders are effective on the psychosis symptoms of children and adolescents (RMSEA=0.06, CFI=0.89, PGFI=0.75, PNFI=0.75).The incidence of Schizotypal Personality Disorder, Anxiety, Bipolar Spectrum Disorder, PTSD, Schizophrenia Spectrum and Delusional Disorder were statistically higher in parents of psychotic children and adolescents. However, Borderline Personality Disorder was more frequent among their mothers while Alcohol Dependency and Drug Dependency were significantly more prevalent among their fathers.

The outcomes of our study showed that there were statistically significant differences between the mean scores of each scale assessed by Millon’s inventory between parents of psychotic versus non-psychotic pediatric cases. In addition, psychiatric disorders were more common among children and youths with psychosis spectrum in comparison with the general population.