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Biomedical subjects

L Silverton

Publications and source records attributed to L Silverton.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1988

Motor impairment and antisocial behavior in adolescent males at high risk for schizophrenia.

A familial link between schizophrenia and antisocial behavior has been established (e.g., Silverton, 1985). This study examined this relationship in a Danish cohort. The subjects were 36 high-risk males (offspring of a schizophrenic parent) and 36 low-risk males (offspring of parents without psychopathology). This high-risk subjects exhibited more antisocial behavior than the low-risk subjects. We tested the hypothesis of a correlation between neurointegrative deficits, as defined by motor impairment, and antisocial behavior, rated at ages 10-13, in subjects at genetic risk for schizophrenia. Path analyses were conducted from motor impairment at 1 year and motor impairment at 10-13 years to antisocial behavior separately for high-risk and low-risk subjects. Adolescent motor impairment was a significant predictor of antisocial behavior for high-risk subjects. Motor impairment at 1 year was also associated with antisocial behavior for these subjects, although the association was partly due to the indirect effects of motor impairment at 1 year on motor impairment at 10-13 years, which, in turn, was associated with changes in antisocial behavior. As predicted, none of the path coefficients nor the effect coefficient was significant for low-risk subjects.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Crime and the schizophrenia spectrum: a diathesis-stress model.

Previous studies support a relationship between schizophrenia and antisocial behavior. In the present study, offspring of schizophrenics showed a greater degree of antisocial behavior than did offspring of parents without psychopathology. The present study clarifies the interplay between risk for schizophrenia and developmental factors in determining antisocial behavior. Those variables which distinguished high-risk criminal behavior from high-risk non-criminal behavior were irritability and shortened attention span in infancy, paternal absence during ages 15 to 17, lower WAIS Verbal IQ, impoverished neighborhood, family discord and negative attitude towards father. In a multiple regression analysis, paternal absence in adolescence, shortness of attention span, and low Verbal IQ each contributed a unique portion of the variance in antisocial behavior. A block of interaction terms (Stressor X Risk) did not contribute a significant portion of the variance in antisocial behavior, suggesting that those factors which predict antisocial behavior in the high-risk group are the same factors which predict antisocial behavior in the low-risk group. In addition, a significant portion of the variance in phenotypic outcome (criminal vs. schizophrenic) was accounted for by passivity in infancy (predictive of schizophrenia) and low Verbal IQ (more common in high-risk criminals). Shortened attention spans in infancy were found to precede both criminal behavior and schizophrenia in this sample. This feature may therefore indicate a genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Cerebral ventricular size in the offspring of schizophrenic mothers. A preliminary study.

Within a prospective, longitudinal study of offspring of schizophrenic mothers, computed tomographic scan-derived measurements of ventricular size were evaluated for a subsample consisting of schizophrenics, borderline schizophrenics (DSM-III schizotypal), and mentally healthy individuals. Schizophrenics exhibited larger ventricular sizes and borderline schizophrenics smaller ventricular sizes than mentally healthy individuals. Ventricular size correlated with premorbidly obtained obstetric data. These results are interpreted as being consistent with the hypothesis that neurological insult may decompensate schizotypal individuals toward florid schizophrenia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Class drift and schizophrenia.

This study is part of an ongoing analysis of 207 children with schizophrenic mothers (high-risk subjects) and 104 low-risk controls begun in 1962 by Mednick & Schulsinger. The purpose of this study was to examine class mobility in schizophrenics, using a prospective paradigm. In the present study, 14 high-risk schizophrenics were matched with 14 high-risk non-schizophrenics and 14 low-risk non-schizophrenics on age, sex and social class origin. Groups were compared on highest class attainment and socio-economic status in 1972. Results indicated that while high-risk non-schizophrenics were comparable in class attainment to low-risk non-schizophrenics, the high-risk schizophrenics were downwardly mobile in comparison to their non-schizophrenic high-risk counterparts. The class drift hypothesis was thus supported.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Impaired speed of visual information processing in marijuana intoxication.

The authors conducted a double-blind crossover study to investigate the effects of marijuana on visual information processing. The authors used a tachistoscopic paradigm, and the results show no marijuana effect on the critical stimulus duration, a measure of stimulus intake. The visual backward masking data are compatible with a marijuana-induced slowness of information processing from labile unconscious iconic memory to more permanent memory processes. These results are discussed in relation to reports of marijuana's effects on perception and early information processing.

Adult↗