Behavioral and Emotional Problems in Offsprings of Bipolar Parents and the Control Group

this study behavioral and emotional problems of child and adolescent offsprings of bipolar parents were compared to that of their peers with normal parents. In a descriptive cross-sectional study, 86 child and adolescent offsprings of patients with bipolar disorder (subject group) and 93 offsprings of healthy parents who had presented to Iran Psychiatric Hospital and Hazrat-e-Rasool Hospital (control group) were selected using convenience sampling, and were evaluated using demographic form and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Comparison between mean scores of CBCL subscales was done using t-test and Multivariate Analysis of Variance. Mean scores of the subject group in somatic complaints, anxious/ depressed, attention problems, aggression, internalizing, and general problems subscales were higher than that of the control group (p<0.05). Behavioral problems in the offsprings of parents with bipolar disorder are more prevalent than the individuals in the control group.