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School performance from primary education in the adolescent offspring of parents with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder– a national, register-based study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2017

Anne Ranning ,
Thomas Laursen ,
Esben Agerbo ,
Anne Thorup ,
Carsten Hjorthøj ,
Jens Richardt Møllegaard Jepsen  and
Merete Nordentoft
Anne Ranning*
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Research Centre, Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Capital Region of Denmark iPsych – The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Denmark
Thomas Laursen
Affiliation:
iPsych – The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Denmark National Center for Register-Based Research, Aarhus University, Denmark
Esben Agerbo
Affiliation:
iPsych – The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Denmark National Center for Register-Based Research, Aarhus University, Denmark
Anne Thorup
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Research Centre, Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Capital Region of Denmark iPsych – The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Denmark Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center, Copenhagen, Capital Region of Denmark
Carsten Hjorthøj
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Research Centre, Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Capital Region of Denmark iPsych – The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Denmark
Jens Richardt Møllegaard Jepsen
Affiliation:
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center, Copenhagen, Capital Region of Denmark Center for Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research, Psychiatric Centre Glostrup, Glostrup, Denmark Lundbeck Foundation Center for Clinical Intervention and Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Merete Nordentoft
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Research Centre, Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Capital Region of Denmark iPsych – The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, Denmark
*
Author for correspondence: Anne Ranning, E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Background

Schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BP) are causes of severe disability worldwide and parents’ severe mental illness (SMI) is associated with childhood adversity, and socio-emotional and cognitive problems in children. Yet, how parental BP and SZ affect educational attainment in offspring is still unclear.

Method

We included all children (N = 684.248) born and living in Denmark between 1986 and 1996 and their parents. Our follow-up lasted from 1986 until children's graduation in 2014. The main outcome variable was their school grades following their primary education. School outcomes were divided into four categories: not graduated, low-grade point average (GPA), medium GPA and high GPA. We then performed a multiple logistic regression with medium GPA as the reference category, with the children of parents without SZ or BP as the reference group.

Results

Children of parents with SZ faced higher odds than their peers of not graduating primary education (OR 2.6), along with low GPA (odds ratios (OR) 1.6) and lower odds for a high GPA (OR 0.7). Moreover, it was the children of mothers rather than fathers with BP who had higher odds of not graduating primary education (OR 1.6). Lastly, child placement was associated with lower grades and lower graduation rates, and outcomes for children of parents with SMI were favorable compared with other children placed in care.

Conclusion

For children, parental SZ is associated with lower grades and lower chances for graduating primary education. In contrast, the children of parents with BP were indistinguishable from the reference group regarding school grades. This signifies that specificity of parental severe mental illness is important in relation to educational achievement of children.

Keywords

School performanceparental mental illnessprimary educationschizophreniabipolar disorderepidemiology
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 48 , Issue 12 , September 2018 , pp. 1993 - 2000
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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