Abstract
A study designed to test a hypothesis that parents can assess their psychotic child's level of development with reasonable accuracy is presented and discussed. Forty-two fathers and 45 mothers of 47 children with a mean age of 5 years and 4 months were asked to estimate their child's level of functioning in overall development, language, motor, social skills, self-sufficiency, and mental development. Parental estimates were then compared with those based on standard psychological testing. Correlations indicating that parents were very good predictors of test-based estimates remained significant even when possible influences of parental knowledge of the child's age were taken into account. Parents whose children were mildly psychotic were relatively poorer estimators than parents of moderately or severely psychotic children. It is suggested that professionals can utilize parental assessments when psychological testing of the psychotic child is not feasible.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bateson, G. Toward a theory of schizophrenia.Behavioral Science, 1956,1, 251–264.
Bettelheim, B.The empty fortress. New York: Macmillan, 1967.
Creak, M. Schizophrenic syndrome in childhood: Further progress report of a working party.Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 1964,6, 530–535.
Doll, E. A.Vineland social maturity scale: Condensed manual of directions. Minneapolis, Minn.: American Guidance Service, 1965.
Frank, G. H. The role of the family in the development of psychopathology.Psychological Bulletin, 1965,64, 191–205.
Heriot, J. T., & Schmickel, C. A. Maternal estimate of I.Q. in children evaluated for learning potential.American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 1967,71, 920–924.
Hollingshead, A.Two factor index of social position. New Haven, Conn.: Author, 1965.
Meyers, D. I., & Goldfarb, W. Studies of perplexity in mothers of schizophrenic children.American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 1961,31, 551–564.
Ornitz, E. M., & Ritvo, E. R. Perceptual inconstancy in early infantile autism.Archives of General Psychiatry, 1968,18, 79–98.
Pitfield, M., & Oppenheim, A. Child rearing attitudes of mothers of psychotic children.Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 1964,1, 51–57.
Reichler, R. J., & Schopler, E. Observations on the nature of human relatedness.Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 1971,1, 283–296.
Rimland, B.Infantile autism: The syndrome and its implications for a neurological theory of behavior. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1964.
Rutter, M. Concepts of autism: A review of research.Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 1968,9, 1–25.
Rutter, M., Lebovici, S., Eisenberg, L., Sneznevskij, A. V., Sadoun, R., Brooke, E., & Lin, T.-Y. A tri-axial classification of mental disorders in childhood.Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 1969,10, 41–61.
Schopler, E. Early infantile autism and receptor processes.Archives of General Psychiatry, 1965,13, 327–335.
Schopler, E. Parents of psychotic children as scapegoats.Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 1971,4, 17–22.
Schopler, E., & Loftin, J. Thought disorders in parents of psychotic children: A function of test anxiety.Archives of General Psychiatry, 1969,20, 174–181.
Schopler, E., & Reichler, R. J. Developmental therapy by parents with their own autistic child. In M. Rutter (Ed.),Infantile autism: Concepts, characteristics and treatment. London: Churchill, 1971. (a)
Schopler, E., & Reichler, R. J. Psychobiological referents to the treatment of autism. In D. W. Churchill, G. D. Alpern, & M. K. DeMyer (Eds.),Infantile autism. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C Thomas, 1971. (b)
Schopler, E., & Reichler, R. J. A program for psychotic children.Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 1972,23, 307–310.
Schulman, J. L., & Stern, S. Parents' estimate of the intelligence of retarded children.American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 1959,63, 696–698.
Wild, C. Disturbed styles of thinking: Implications of disturbed styles of thinking manifested in the Object Sorting Test by the parents of schizophrenic patients.Archives of General Psychiatry, 1965,13, 464–470.
Wolfensberger, W., & Kurtz, R. A. Measurement of parents' perceptions of their children's development.Genetic Psychological Monographs, 1971,83, 3–92.
Zuk, G. H. Autistic distortions in parents of retarded children.Journal of Consulting Psychology, 1959,23, 171–176.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This study was supported in part by the National Institute of Mental Health, Grant MH-15539. The authors gratefully acknowledge the statistical consultation of Dr. Anthony Conger and Mr. J. Levinson, and the assistance in collection and analysis of the data by Mrs. Ginger Strickland, Research Assistant in the Child Research Project.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Schopler, E., Reichler, R.J. How well do parents understand their own psychotic child?. J Autism Dev Disord 2, 387–400 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01538171
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01538171