Creativity in offspring of schizophrenic and control parents: An adoption study

Previous studies (Heston & Denney, 1968; Karlsson, 1970; Kauffman, Grunebau m, Cohler, & Garner, 1979) have reported that psychologically healthier bio logical relatives of persons with schizophrenia had unusually creative jobs and hobbies. These studies, however examined only eminent levels of creati vity in a few professions, involved serendipitous post hoc findings, assess ed creativity, or both, while aware of diagnosis. We studied 36 index adult adoptees of biological parents with schizophrenia and 36 demographically m atched control adoptees with no biological family history, of psychiatric h ospitalization. Adoptees were diagnosed with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 198 0) criteria by investigators blind to creativity assessments. Adoptees' rea l-life creativity was rated by other investigators blind to personal and fa mily psychopathology with scales of demonstrated reliability and validity a pplied to descriptions of vocational and avocational activities obtained fr om interviews. It was hypothesized that adoptees with genetic liability for schizophrenia (and thus potentially unconventional modes of thinking and p erceiving)-although not schizophrenia itself-would be more creative. In fac t, nonschizophrenics with either schizotypal or schizoid personality disord er or multiple schizotypal signs (which other research has linked with gene tic liability for schizophrenia) had significantly higher creativity than o ther participants. Interestingly, some control adoptees also fit these crit eria and were included in analyses. Results have implications for relations of creativity to personal symptoms and familial risk for schizophrenia.