Gender differences in aggressiveness in children and adolescents at risk for schizophrenia

• Autor(a) principal: Gutt, Elisa Kijner
• Data de Publicação: 2008
• Outros Autores: Petresco, Sandra, Krelling, Renata, Busatto Filho, Geraldo [UNIFESP], Bordin, Isabel Altenfelder Santos [UNIFESP], Lotufo-Neto, Francisco
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNIFESP
• Texto Completo: http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1516-44462008000200005; http://repositorio.unifesp.br/handle/11600/4403
• topic: Schizophrenia; Child; Adolescent; Gender; Behavior; Esquizofrenia; Criança; Adolescente; Gênero; Comportamento

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate whether differences in aggression-related behavioral problems occur between boys and girls at high risk for schizophrenia living in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. METHOD: Using the Child Behavior Checklist, we compared the prevalence of behavioral problems between genders for the offspring (6-18 years) of mothers with diagnosis of schizophrenia and a comparison group of children born to women with no severe mental disorders recruited at the gynecology outpatient clinic of the same hospital. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders, Patient Edition was applied for the evaluation of diagnostic status of mothers. RESULTS: Male children of women with schizophrenia had a lower prevalence of aggressive behavior compared to females (4% vs. 36%; p = 0.005), whereas no gender differences regarding aggression were detected in the comparison group (24% vs. 32%; p = 0.53). Logistic regression analyses showed that male gender and being a child of women with schizophrenia interacted so as to favor lower prevalence of aggressive behavior (p = 0.03). CONCLUSION: These findings reinforce the notion that behavioral gender differences related to schizophrenia are already detectable in childhood.