Genetic studies have shown an increased risk of schizophrenia in the offspring of mothers with schizophrenia. The precise mode of inheritance of schizophrenia and the specific genes that may cause schizophrenia are controversial and uncertain. It is highly likely that schizophrenia follows a complex pattern of inheritance, and this complexity may be due to multiple genes acting together in a linear or synergistic fashion to create disease risk. It has also been suggested that gene-environment interactions contribute to the expression of the disease. In summary: children born to mothers with psychiatric disorders are at higher risk for psychiatric disorders than the general population, not necessarily for psychiatric disorders.