Social Cognition, Language, and Social Behavior in 7-Year-Old Children at Familial High-Risk of Developing Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder: The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study VIA 7-A Population-Based Cohort Study

Camilla Jerlang Christiani; Jens R M Jepsen; Anne Thorup; Nicoline Hemager; Ditte Ellersgaard; Katrine S Spang; Birgitte K Burton; Maja Gregersen; Anne Søndergaard; Aja N Greve; Ditte L Gantriis; Gry Poulsen; Md Jamal Uddin; Larry J Seidman; Ole Mors; Kerstin J Plessen; Merete Nordentoft

doi:10.1093/schbul/sbz001

Social Cognition, Language, and Social Behavior in 7-Year-Old Children at Familial High-Risk of Developing Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder: The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study VIA 7-A Population-Based Cohort Study

Schizophr Bull. 2019 Oct 24;45(6):1218-1230. doi: 10.1093/schbul/sbz001.

Authors

Camilla Jerlang Christiani^{1

2}, Jens R M Jepsen^{1

2

3

4}, Anne Thorup^{1

2}, Nicoline Hemager^{1

2

3}, Ditte Ellersgaard^{1

2}, Katrine S Spang^{2

3}, Birgitte K Burton^{2

3}, Maja Gregersen^{1

2}, Anne Søndergaard^{1

2}, Aja N Greve^{2

5}, Ditte L Gantriis^{2

5}, Gry Poulsen^{2

6}, Md Jamal Uddin^{2

6}, Larry J Seidman⁷, Ole Mors^{2

5}, Kerstin J Plessen^{2

3

8}, Merete Nordentoft^{1

2

9}

Affiliations

¹ Mental Health Centre, Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark.
² The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Denmark.
³ Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre, Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁴ Center for Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research and Center for Clinical Intervention and Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research, Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁵ Psychosis Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
⁶ Department of Public Health, Section of Biostatistics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA.
⁸ Services of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁹ Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Abstract

Objective: To characterize social cognition, language, and social behavior as potentially shared vulnerability markers in children at familial high-risk of schizophrenia (FHR-SZ) and bipolar disorder (FHR-BP).

Methods: The Danish High-Risk and Resilience Study VIA7 is a multisite population-based cohort of 522 7-year-old children extracted from the Danish registries. The population-based controls were matched to the FHR-SZ children on age, sex, and municipality. The FHR-BP group followed same inclusion criteria. Data were collected blinded to familial high-risk status. Outcomes were social cognition, language, and social behavior.

Results: The analysis included 202 FHR-SZ children (girls: 46%), 120 FHR-BP children (girls: 46.7%), and 200 controls (girls: 46.5%). FHR-SZ children displayed significant deficits in language (receptive: d = -0.27, P = .006; pragmatic: d = -0.51, P < .001), social responsiveness (d = -0.54, P < .001), and adaptive social functioning (d = -0.47, P < .001) compared to controls after Bonferroni correction. Compared to FHR-BP children, FHR-SZ children performed significantly poorer on adaptive social functioning (d = -0.29, P = .007) after Bonferroni correction. FHR-BP and FHR-SZ children showed no significant social cognitive impairments compared to controls after Bonferroni correction.

Conclusion: Language, social responsiveness, and adaptive social functioning deficits seem associated with FHR-SZ but not FHR-BP in this developmental phase. The pattern of results suggests adaptive social functioning impairments may not be shared between FHR-BP and FHR-SZ in this developmental phase and thus not reflective of the shared risk factors for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Keywords: facial affect identification; language; neurodevelopment; offspring; social functioning; theory of mind.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bipolar Disorder*
Case-Control Studies
Child
Child of Impaired Parents*
Cohort Studies
Denmark
Female
Humans
Language*
Male
Risk
Schizophrenia*
Social Adjustment
Social Behavior*
Social Perception*