Adaptability and cohesion in youth at clinical high-risk for psychosis: A multi-informant approach

Claire I. Yee*, Teresa Vargas, Vijay A. Mittal, Claudia M. Haase

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalLetterpeer-review

Abstract

Background: Families can play a critical role in the development of psychosis. Adaptability (i.e., flexibility) and cohesion (i.e., emotional bonding) are important markers of family functioning, but have rarely been studied in youth at clinical high risk for developing psychosis (CHR), especially not from a multi-informant perspective. Methods: The current study examined adaptability and cohesion (using youth and mother reports) and clinical symptoms (in youth) among 75 youth at CHR and their mothers (N = 48) and 79 matched healthy controls and their mothers (N = 42). Results: Findings showed that (1) youth at CHR and their mothers reported lower adaptability and cohesion than their healthy control counterparts. (2) All youth reported lower adaptability than mothers, but only youth at CHR (not control youth) reported lower cohesion than their mothers. (3) There were no significant links between CHR youth and mother reports of adaptability and cohesion and clinical symptoms. Conclusions: Findings support existing literature that families with a youth at CHR are at risk for poorer functioning and demonstrate pronounced youth-mother discrepancies with youth at CHR (but not controls) reporting lower emotional bonding than their mothers. Future studies may further probe multi-informant perspectives of family environment as a clinical marker in the clinical high risk state.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)604-610
Number of pages7
JournalSchizophrenia Research
Volume228
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2021

Keywords

  • Adaptability
  • Cohesion
  • Family environment
  • High risk
  • Psychosis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Psychiatry and Mental health
  • Biological Psychiatry

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