A taxometric analysis of cognitive and neuromotor variables in children at risk for schizophrenia.

A taxometric model was applied to detect a subgroup or taxon of children conjectured to be at highest risk for developing schizophrenia or related disorders in a sample of offspring of schizophrenic, depressed, and normal parents. Measures of cognitive and neuromotor performance in childhood were used as indicator tests in the analyses. A taxon consisting chiefly of children of schizophrenic parents was detected. Forty-seven percent of those children were assigned to the taxon, compared with 16% of the children of depressed parents and 4% of the children of normal parents. Assignment to the taxon is assessed in relation to the current functional status of the subjects in young adulthood.