Resemblance and clustering of mother's and father's psychopathology levels among Chinese parents of schoolchildren with psychiatric disorders.

Background: Few studies have assessed the characteristics of spousal psychopathologies among parents of schoolchildren with and without psychological disorders (PD) in China.

Methods: Parental symptoms were measured using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) in 275 mothers and 278 fathers of 298 schoolchildren with PDs diagnosed in a population survey and in 825 mothers and 834 fathers of 894 schoolchildren without PDs as a 1:3 matched comparison group. Spousal GHQ scores were compared.