Behavioral neurodevelopment abnormalities and schizophrenic disorder: a retrospective evaluation with the Childhood Behavior Checklist (CBCL)

This study is a retrospective report of childhood and adolescence neurobeha vioral assessment in patients with schizophrenia and their healthy siblings using the Childhood Behavior Checklist (CBCL). The CBCL ratings were obtai ned from retrospective maternal reports, for five age periods (birth to 3 y ears, 4-7 years, 8-11 years, 12-15 years and 16-18 years) in a sample of 32 patients with schizophrenia. The patients showed a variety of childhood an d adolescence behavioral problems when compared with their siblings, and th e various types of problems differed in the developmental course of the dis ease. Cluster analysis was conducted on the childhood premorbid behavior ra tings for the schizophrenic patients, and two subgroups emerged: a duster w ith an initially low level of behavioral abnormalities (B.A.) that increase d over the years, and a cluster with a high level of B.A. that remain relat ively stable until early adulthood. The latter group showed more severe cur rent negative symptoms. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.