The Zurich Study. XXIV. Structural and emotional aspects of childhood and later psychopathology.

A Swiss cohort interviewed four times between ages 20 and 30 years reported on a structural aspect of childhood (separation from parents) and emotional aspects (family strain, childhood behavioral and emotional problems). These data were connected with DSM-III-R diagnoses of anxiety and depression, SCL-90R scores (all repeatedly ascertained) and with Freiburg Personality Inventory results at age 30 years. Adult psychopathology, personality deviations, and negative affectivity were not connected with early or later separation, but with a report of family strain and childhood disturbances. As variables associated with later psychiatric symptoms and disorder, interpersonal and subjective aspects of childhood out-weigh the fact of separation from parents.