Children of parents with obsessive-compulsive disorder - a 2-year follow-up study

Objective: To examine the association between parental obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and emotional and behavioural disorders in offspring. Method: Demographic, clinical, and diagnostic data were collected from parents with OCD, control subjects, and their respective offspring. Offspring were reassessed at a 2-year follow-up. Results: Probands with OCD and controls were relatively well matched for age, gender, race, educational rating, and marital status. Offspring of OCD probands were at greater risk than offspring of controls for dimensionally measured anxiety, depression, somatization, and social problems. OCD offspring were significantly more likely than control offspring to have lifetime overanxious disorder, separation anxiety disorder, OCD, or 'any anxiety disorder'. Female gender in the parent with OCD, evidence of family dysfunction, and high symptom levels in offspring were predictive of broadly defined OCD at follow-up. Conclusion: Children having a parent with OCD are more likely than control offspring to have social, emotional, and behavioural disorders.