Cognitive and motor alterations in children attending a psychiatric clinic in relation to schizophrenia spectrum family antecedents and thought problems

Background and objectives

Neurodevelopmental and clinical problems in childhood often precede adult Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders.

We investigated if children attending a psychiatric clinic presented more psychopathology and cognitive and motor alterations if there was a family history of Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder diagnosis. We also searched if there was a relationship between borderline/clinical scores (≥65) in Child Behavior Checklist (subscale Thought Problems) and increased problems in motor and cognitive performance.

Methods

Seventy-five children (aged 7 to 16; mean 12 y/o; 53% males) were recruited (45 reported family history -seven of them first degree-). They completed the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-V), Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC-2), social cognition from the Developmental NEuroPSYchological Assessment (NEPSY-II) and Conners Continuous Performance Test (CPT-3). Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-2).

Results

A neurodevelopmental disorder was the primary diagnosis in 65% (mainly ADHD). Motor performance and emotion recognition were below expected by age, and IQ was average. No relevant differences in relation to family history were found. Patients with high scores (≥65) in the CBCL Thought Problems subscale (n = 38) were older, more often presented a diagnosis of combined ADHD, performed worse in Emotion Recognition (and more often made “angry” errors), had Executive Function problems and clinical symptoms in subscales Anxious/Depressed, Withdrawal/Depressed and Attention problems.

Conclusions

In children attending a psychiatric clinic, elevated scores on CBCL Thought Problems subscale associates with more urban upbringing, more internalizing clinical problems, executive function, and facial emotion recognition difficulties, with a tendency to report “angry” to other emotions.