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Childhood psychotic experiences are associated with poorer global functioning throughout adolescence and into early adulthood
Author(s) -
Healy C.,
Campbell D.,
Coughlan H.,
Clarke M.,
Kelleher I.,
Can M.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/acps.12907
Subject(s) - global assessment of functioning , psychology , psychiatry , young adult , early childhood , clinical psychology , mental health , developmental psychology , schizophrenia (object oriented programming)
Background Psychotic experiences ( PE s) are common in childhood and have been associated with concurrent mental disorder and poorer global functioning. Little is known about the effects of childhood PE s on future functioning. We investigated the effects of childhood PE s on global functioning from childhood into early adulthood. Method Fifty‐six participants from a community sample completed all three waves of the Adolescent Brain Development study (T1 x ¯Age: 11.69, T2 x ¯Age: 15.80 T3 x ¯ Age: 18.80). At each phase, participants completed a clinical interview assessing for PE s, mental disorder and global function. Repeated measures models, adjusted for mental disorder and gender, were used to compare current (C‐ GAF ) and most severe past ( MSP ‐ GAF ) functioning in participants who had reported PE s in childhood and controls. Results Participants with a history of PE s had significantly poorer C‐ GAF ( P < 0.001) and MSP ‐ GAF scores ( P < 0.001). Poorer functioning was evident in childhood (C‐ GAF : P = 0.001; MSP ‐ GAF : P < 0.001), adolescence (C‐ GAF : P < 0.001; MSP ‐ GAF : P = 0.004) and early adulthood (C‐ GAF : P = 0.001; MSP ‐ GAF : P = 0.076). Discussion Children who report PE s have persistently poorer functioning through to early adulthood. The longitudinal association between childhood PE s and global functioning highlights the underlying global vulnerability in children reporting PE s, beyond what can be explained by mental disorder.