Abstract

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is one of the common psychiatric disorders among children and adolescents that can be created by both genetic and environmental factors. Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the frequency of OCD and its patterns in families with OCD children. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 95 children and adolescents with OCD who were referred to the Psychology Clinic of Rafsanjan, Iran, in 2016 were enrolled by a convenience sampling method. The research tool was an obsessive-compulsive questionnaire (children form), and interviews were also carried out with the patients to find the deterioration of the symptoms in them and/or their families. Data were presented and analyzed by mean±SD, frequency, and Chi-square test. The level of significance was 0.05. Results: The highest frequency of OCD patterns was washing, Checking, and doubt. 36.7% of fathers and 56.1% of mothers had one of obsessive-compulsive disorder patterns. Meanwhile, the most common pattern observed in the parents was cleaning. In total, 79.6% of the paternal families and 87.7% of the maternal families of the patients had OCD. Moreover, a significant relationship was observed in the levels of OCD between children and mothers (P = 0.027), whereas no significant association was detected between the OCD of children and that of their parents. Conclusions: Family history (especially maternal family) plays a significant role in OCD development, which is indicative of the transmission pattern of multifactorial traits, while the heritability of OCD is still not determined. © 2021, Author(s).