The Genetics Laboratory is investigating the roles of genetic and environmental factors in the etiologies of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and autism. In related studies, we have found that pre- and perinatal complications and stressors are significantly more prevalent in both schizophrenic and bipolar-disordered patients than in their respective siblings. In other research, we have found that certain neurologic abnormalities and neuropsychological test deficits are significantly more common, compared with control subjects, in both schizophrenics and their non-schizophrenic relatives. Moreover, among schizophrenics' non-schizophrenic relatives, there are patterns of correlations among risk factors that suggest the operation of two independent risk factors for schizophrenia. In complementary collaborative studies, we are investigating how these obstetrical, neurological, and neuropsychological measures are related to other risk factors (e.g., family history and season of birth) and to other psychobiological variables associated with schizophrenia, such as eye movement dysfunctions, thought disorder, and anomalies of brain structure and function seen with magnetic resonance (MR) brain imaging measures. We have also been studying the relatives of patients, to investigate whether certain psychological variables, such as creativity, may be more prevalent in the biological relatives of patients with schizophrenia, and whether certain characteristics, such as enhanced creativity, may represent potentially adaptive phenotypes associated with genetic liability for these disorders. Recent studies found, for example, that psychologically healthier relatives of manic-depressives and schizophrenics were more creative on average than control subjects.

Key Words: creativity, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, pre- and perinatal risk factors, neurological and neuropsychological abnormalities

Grant Support: NIMH: RO1 MH 59136, Creativity and Liability for Schizophrenia (DKK); NIMH: RO1 MH57764, Obstetric Complications and Pathology in Schizophrenia (DKK).

Project Site: Genetics Laboratory, Mailman Research Center, McLean Hospital

Project Director: Dennis K. Kinney, Ph.D., Genetics Lab., NBG-28, McLean Hospital, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02178. e-mail address: adoption@mclean.harvard.edu

Contact Persons: Dennis Kinney and Sharon Tramer, 617-855-3439 (phone); 617-855-2348(Fax);

Training Opportunities: There are positions for both pre- and postdoctoral students.

Representative Publications:

Kinney DK, Holzman PS, Jacobsen B, Jansson L, Faber B, Hildebrand W, Kasell E, Zimbalist ME. Thought disorder in schizophrenic and control adoptees and their relatives. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1997;54:475-9.

Kinney DK, Levy DL, Yurgelun-Todd DA, Tramer SJ, Holzman PS. Inverse relationship of perinatal complications with eye tracking dysfunction in relatives of patients with schizophrenia: Evidence for a two-factor model. Am J Psychiatry 1998;155(7):976-8.

Kinney DK, Yurgelun-Todd D, Tohen M, Tramer S. Pre- and perinatal complications and risk for bipolar disorder: a retrospective study. J Affect Disord 1998;50(2-3):117-24.

Kinney DK, Levy DL, Yurgelun-Todd DA, Lajonchere CM, Holzman P. Eye tracking dysfunction and birth-month weather in schizophrenia. J Abnorm Psychol 1999; 108(2):359-62.

Kinney DK, Richards RL, Lowing PA, LeBlanc D, Zimbalist MA, Harlan P. Creativity in offspring of schizophrenics and controls: An adoption study. Creativity Research J 2000-2001;13(1):17-25.