Drift and dangerousness: social class differences between acute schizophrenics and their parents in relation to measures of violence.

Socio-economic differences between schizophrenics on an acute in-patient unit and their parents were studied in relation to indices of dangerousness and of psychiatric status. It was found that, whenever thier class of origin, a large proportion of patients had dropped in occupational attainment, relative to that of their parents, but that patients tended to be higher in education than their parents. Patients who had committed an assaultive act prior to admission were lower in social status than their parents.