Ellen A. Lane

The Sex Ratio of Children Born to Schizophrenics and a Theory of Stress

This study corroborates a finding by Shearer, Davidson, and Finch that schizophrenic women have more female than male offspring. Further analysis shows that this pattern is determined mainly by children of black schizophrenic mothers, children of reactive schizophrenic mothers, and children born before their mothers’ first hospitalization. A similar analysis of children of schizophrenic fathers, however, also shows some differences in sex ratio from the normal population. The combined results are explained in terms of stress rather than by some chemical processes unique to schizophrenia.

Correlations between the IQs Of Schizophrenic Parents and Their Children

Correlations were obtained between the IQs of children of schizophrenics and the childhood IQs of their parents. No relationship was found between the IQs of children and those of their schizophrenic parents but a significant and normal correlation was found between the IQ scores of these children and those of their nonschizophrenic parents. Because of the latter finding, it was concluded that the lack of correlation between the IQs of children and their schizophenic parents was due to the erratic test performance of schizophrenics, occurring long before the recognized onset of their disorder, rather than that of their children.

The Intelligence of Spouses of Schizophrenics

Childhood intelligence tests of schizophrenic adults and their non-schizophrenic spouses were compared. It was found that male schizophrenics marry women of significantly higher intelligence than their own, while female schizophrenics marry men of about equal intelligence to their own. Wives of schizophrenics are a significantly brighter group than husbands of schizophrenics. These results are in harmony with studies on the personalities of spouses of schizophrenics.