RESUMO
Background: Children of parents with schizophrenia are reported to be vulnerable to various kinds of psychological and psychosocial problems. Stigma is one of the significant psychosocial impacts often studied in patients with schizophrenia. However the experiences of stigma and psychological well being of the healthy adult children of the parents with schizophrenia is less explored. Aims: To study the perceived stigma and psychological well being of the adult children of parents having schizophrenia and to assess the relationship between perceived stigma and psychological well being. Methods: The study adopted a two group comparison cross sectional methodology. The study group comprised of 30 adult children of parents with schizophrenia and control group consisted of 30 individuals without the history of any mental illness in the parents. The tools used were Sociodemographic Data Sheet (SDS), the stigma items of Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue (EMIC) and Psychological Well Being scale (PWB). Results: More than 50% of the participants in study group experienced stigma. Perceived stigma was positively correlated with current psychopathology of the parents. Active psychopathology in parents turned out to be a significant predictor of the stigma. The control group had better psychological well being compared to the study group. Conclusion: Even in the absence of any diagnosable psychological problems, children of patients with schizophrenia experience stigma and they have poor psychological well being compared to children of parents without psychiatric illness.