AO3

• The interactionist approach is supported by Tienari (2004). The diathesis in this case is the genetic predisposition and the trigger/stressor is the family dysfunction.
• Tienari 2004 adoption study. The researchers used data from 19,000 Finnish mothers and adoptees who suffered from SZ and compared these findings to a neurotypical group of children adopted across the same period (1960 to 1979). The researchers found that “in adoptees at high genetic risk of schizophrenia, adoptive-family ratings were a significant predictor of schizo-spectrum disorders in adoptees at LT follow up”. Therefore, this provides support for the diathesis-stress model because the findings demonstrate that a single diathesis or stressor is not enough to trigger the development of SZ
• The original diathesis-stress model can be considered as an over-simplified explanation of SZ and a reflection of the outdated understanding of that disorder in the mid-twentieth century. For example, Ripke et al (2014) demonstrated that there are over 108 candidate genes, each slightly increasing the risk of SZ, and so there is no single ‘schizogene’. Stress can come in many forms apart from the schizophrenogenic mother, such as high levels of expressed emotion, childhood trauma (Read et al, 2001)