Journal of Molecular Biology Research; Vol. 10, No. 1; 2020 ISSN 1925-430X E-ISSN 1925-4318 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 59 Investigation of the Relationship between Parental Mental Disorders and Autism among the Children of West Azerbaijan -Iran Arezou Kiani Equal 1 , Javad Rasouli 2 & Sahar Kiani 1 1 Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, West Azerbaijan, Iran 2 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistic, School of Medicine, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran Correspondence: Arezou Kiani Equal, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, West Azerbaijan, Iran. E-mail: arezoukiani@yahoo.com Received: December 18, 2019 Accepted: January 21, 2020 Online Published: March 30, 2020 doi:10.5539/jmbr.v10n1p59 URL: https://doi.org/10.5539/jmbr.v10n1p59 Abstract Background: Autism disorders have increased over the last years. Autism is a neurological growth disorder associated with social communication disorders, growth retardation, and repetitive behaviors, along with serious consequences for children and families. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the relationship between parental mental disorders and autism among the children of West Azerbaijan Province. Methods: This research was a case-control study in which the case group subjects were selected among the parents with autistic children and control group subjects were selected among the relative parents with healthy children and non-relative parents with healthy children. Both case and control groups were matched in terms of gender, living place, and age of children. Finally, the data were analyzed using SPSS-16 (Chicago, IL, USA) software. Results: The current research results revealed that the frequency of mental diseases, including obsessive- compulsive, inter personality sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, phobia, paranoid ideation, and psychotic disorder are different in fathers and mothers of the case and control groups. As Pvalue was lower than 0.05 in all scales, there was a significant relationship between the mental diseases of parents and the history of mental disorders in relatives and autism. Conclusion: The prevalence of mental disorders in relatives and having a medical history can be a warning sign of autism in children. Keywords: Autism, Parental Psychiatric Disorders, Case-Control, Scl-90-R, Mental Disorder 1. Introduction Autism disorders have increased over the last years. Autism spectrum disorders with delayed or abnormal functioning occur at least in one of the areas of social interaction, the language used in social imaginative or symbolic communication (Yazdani et al., 2017). Autism is a neurological growth disorder associated with social communication disorders, growth retardation, and repetitive behaviors, along with serious consequences for children and the families (Ha et al., 2015; Lei et al., 2018). It has been investigated in various studies (MAKHADIYEVA, 2018). Based on the findings of the studies conducted over the last years, the root of more than 90% of brain function abnormalities and autistic behaviors is genetic. However, genetic is not the only factor involved in the development of all cases of autism, environmental factors are also involved in the development of autistic behaviors (Karimi et al., 2017; Yuen et al., 2019). Various studies have indicated that genetic factors play a major role in autism disorders, but the impact of these symptoms has not been well understood concerning environmental risk factors. Recent research suggests that environmental factors have had an effective role in about 40 to 50% of patients with autism (Deng et al., 2015; Gaugler et al., 2014; Kim & Leventhal, 2015; Yuen et al., 2019). Some experts reported that a wide range of parental mental disorders is associated with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (Bölte et al., 2007; Daniels et al., 2008; Jokiranta et al., 2013; Larsson et al., 2005). The results of the study conducted by Jokiranta et al. showed a significant relationship between parental emotional disorders and the incidence of autism in their children so that the possibility of having ASD children in the fathers with the emotional disorder is two times more than that of other fathers (Jokiranta et al., 2013). Based on the results of the study conducted by Sullivan et al., families whose first-degree relatives suffer from schizophrenia and bipolar