Verbal associative disturbances in children at high risk for schizophrenia.

Analyzed single-word and continuous association test behaviors of children at high (207 Ss) and low (104 Ss) risk for schizophrenia. A comparison was also made between test scores of those high-risk Ss who later became schizophrenic and scores of others who did not. Although high-risk Ss exhibited more deviant associations than low-risk Ss, premorbid associative disturbance did not characterize those who later became schizophrenic. These findings are not supportive of learning theories of associative disturbance. When combined with recent evidence showing that degree of associative disturbance at initial breakdown is not predictive of chronicity or outcome, these findings call for a reevaluation of the central character of associative disturbance in schizophrenia. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)