A 48-year longitudinal study of 244 subjects, published in Schizophrenia Research, finds that those with schizophrenia-spectrum diagnoses had had the worst social functioning scores at the age of 10–13 years. Although most of the patients who went on to schizophrenia diagnoses had a parent who was hospitalized with the condition, this risk did not affect the correlation between social functioning and psychiatric outcome.
Tsuji, T., Kline, E., Sorensen, H., Mortensen, E., et al; Premorbid teacher-rated social functioning predicts adult schizophrenia-spectrum disorder: A high-risk prospective investigation. Schizophrenia Research. Online November 8, 2013 doi:10.1016/j.schres.2013.10.022
Of further interest:
Childhood social functioning predicts schizophrenia risk (Medwire News)
Poor Social Functioning in Childhood Linked to Greater Schizophrenia Risk (PsychCentral)