Positive Symptoms and Perceived Parental Acceptance-Rejection in Childhood: The Moderating Roles of Socioeconomic Status and Gender

The current study aimed to investigate the moderating roles of socioeconomic status (SES) and gender in the relationship between the positive symptoms of patients with schizophrenia and their recollections of parental acceptance-rejection in childhood. This study included 53 outpatients (20 females and 33 males) who were diagnosed with schizophrenia at the Ankara University and Ege University Faculty of Medicine Department of Psychiatry. Of the participants, 22.6% were from low SES families, 55.7% were from middle SES families, and 22.6% were from high SES families. The relationship between the participants' positive symptoms and recollections of parental acceptance-rejection in childhood were assessed by the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms and the Adult Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire/Control. Compared to schizophrenia patients from middle and high SES families, those from low SES families perceived their mothers and fathers as more cold, neglectful, rejecting, and less controlling in their childhood. Among the parental acceptance-rejection subscales, only maternal indifferences/neglect was related to the participants' positive symptoms. A three-way interaction (moderated moderation) analysis indicated that SES significantly moderated the effect of perceived maternal neglect on positive symptoms for female, but not male, patients with schizophrenia. The severity of positive symptoms of female patients with schizophrenia, especially those from low and middle SES families, may be reduced by examining recollections of maternal neglect in childhood and, if necessary, applying trauma or attachment-focused interventions.