Risk and Protective Factors, Perceptions of Family Environment, Ethnicity, and Schizophrenia Symptoms

The family environment can play either a detrimental or a protectiverole in symptom severity for people with schizophrenia. The current studyexamined both patient and caregiver perspectives of the family environment inan ethnically diverse sample of 221 patientswith schizophrenia.We hypothesizedthat environments characterized by high levels of perceived caregiver criticism, low perceived caregiver warmth, and low family cohesion (from both the patientand caregiver perspective) would predict greater symptom severity. As expected, results demonstrated that lower patient ratings of family cohesion and caregiverwarmth were associated with greater symptom severity. However, once put intoa hierarchical regression analysis, only patient ratings of family cohesion remainedsignificant. Ethnic patterns were also examined and revealed that familycohesion may be particularly protective for ethnic minorities. Study implicationsare discussed.