The interactionist approach to schizophrenia evaluation

Strength: there is evidence to support the dual role of vulnerability and stress in the development of schizophrenia

• Tienari et al (2004) investigated the combination of genetic vulnerability and parenting style (the trigger)
• Children adopted from 19,000 Finnish mothers with schizophrenia were followed up and their adoptive parents assessed for child-rearing style
• A child-rearing style characterised by high levels of criticism and conflict and low levels of empathy was implicated in the development of schizophrenia, but only for those with high genetic risk
• This suggests that both genetic vulnerability and family-related stress are important in the development of schizophrenia

Strength: there is research support…