Ethnicity, family cohesion, religiosity and general emotional distress in patients with schizophrenia and their relatives

This study included a sample of 57 Anglo-American, Latino American, and African American patients with schizophrenia and their family members. Findings indicate that for patients, as hypothesized, increasing perceptions of family cohesion was associated with less general emotional distress and fewer psychiatric symptoms. For family members of Latino and African American descent, greater self-reported family cohesion also appeared to have a protective effect against emotional distress, as hypothesized. However, no association was found between family cohesion and general emotional distress for Anglo-American family members. Interestingly, no relationship was found between patients' and their relatives' views of their family environment. Thus, researchers and clinicians working with families are encouraged to attain separate assessments of the family environment from each individual member. Contrary to expectations, religiosity was not associated with patient or family member emotional distress or with patient psychiatric symptoms. Study implications are discussed.