Adolescent social functioning in offspring at high risk for schizophrenia spectrum disorders in the Finnish Adoptive Family Study of Schizophrenia

Rapid and accurate trustworthiness judgments are important during successful day-to-day social interactions because they can influence the decision whether to approach someone and initiate social interaction. The aim of the present study was to analyze associations between these judgments and self-reported and clinician-rated social functioning. The sample consisted of 48 patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and 35 healthy controls matched for age, gender, and educational level. A trustworthiness task, subjective, and clinician-rated scales for social functioning were administered to both samples. Trustworthiness judgments did not differ between patients and healthy controls. Both groups were able to discriminate between trustworthy and untrustworthy faces. Trustworthiness ratings were associated with self-reported and clinician-rated measures of interpersonal functioning in patients with schizophrenia. Despite the absence of differences between groups, in patients with schizophrenia, a tendency to mistrust based on facial appearance was related to worse functional outcome, predominantly in the domain of disturbed interpersonal functioning. This study highlights the importance of future research into social–cognitive biases in schizophrenia.

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Metacognitive deficits and social functioning in schizophrenia across symptom profiles: A latent class analysis

Journal of Experimental Psychopathology ◽

10.1177/2043808719830821 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 204380871983082 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Emily C. Gagen ◽

Aieyat B. Zalzala ◽

Jesse Hochheiser ◽

Ashley Schnakenberg Martin ◽

Paul H. Lysaker

Keyword(s):

Latent Class Analysis ◽

Social Functioning ◽

Latent Class ◽

Class Analysis ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum ◽

Class 1 ◽

Spectrum Disorders ◽

Meaningful Connections ◽

Relationship Of

Functional deficits are a hallmark of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, but much debate still exists over why and how they originate. One model suggests that disturbances in social functioning are a result of metacognitive deficits or a failure to integrate information to form more complex ideas of themselves and others. It is unclear if this social dysfunction is present across different symptom presentations. We examined the relationship of metacognition, symptoms, and social functioning among a sample of adults with schizophrenia spectrum disorders ( N = 334). A latent class analysis produced a four-class model. Groups were classified as follows: diffuse symptoms/moderately impaired social functioning (Class 1), positive and hostility symptoms/mildly impaired social functioning (Class 2), minimal symptoms/good social functioning (Class 3), and negative and cognitive symptoms/severely impaired social functioning (Class 4). Class 3 demonstrated better overall metacognitive capacity than both Classes 1 and 4 but did not differ significantly from Class 2. Classes 2 and 3 both demonstrated better interpersonal functioning than Classes 1 and 4. Together, these findings provide support for models of poor functioning that stem from fragmentation of an individual’s experience, leading to diminished abilities to form meaningful connections with others. Additional interpretations, limitations, and research implications are discussed.

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Aspects of Theory of Mind that attenuate the relationship between persecutory delusions and social functioning in schizophrenia spectrum disorders

Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.jbtep.2016.07.008 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 56 ◽

pp. 65-70 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Peter L. Phalen ◽

Giancarlo Dimaggio ◽

Raffaele Popolo ◽

Paul H. Lysaker

Keyword(s):

Theory Of Mind ◽

Social Functioning ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽

Persecutory Delusions ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorders ◽

The Relationship

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Gender and Schizophrenia Results of an Epidemiologically-based Family Study

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/bjp.167.2.184 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 167 (2) ◽

pp. 184-192 ◽

Cited By ~ 49

Author(s):

Kenneth S. Kendler ◽

Dermot Walsh

Keyword(s):

Family Study ◽

Age At Onset ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders ◽

The West ◽

Men And Women ◽

Familial Predisposition ◽

Face To Face ◽

Affective Illness ◽

Schizophrenia Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorders

BackgroundGender may have a significant impact on the prevalence, age at onset, symptoms, course and outcome of schizophrenia, as well as on the pattern of psychopathology in relatives.MethodWe examined these questions in the Roscommon Family Study, in which the probands were epidemiologically sampled from a case registry and followed up an average of 15 years after onset. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 86% of traceable living relatives.ResultsThe treated lifetime prevalence of DSM–III–R schizophrenia was 0.54 ± 0.06% in men and 0.28 ± 0.04% in women. No significant differences were seen in the age at onset, symptoms, course or outcome of schizophrenia. The risks for schizophrenia, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, affective illness and alcoholism were similar in relatives of male and female schizophrenic probands.ConclusionsGender has little impact on the presentation and course of schizophrenia in the west of Ireland. The familial liability to schizophrenia did not differ in affected men and women. No evidence was found that schizophrenia in women, compared to men, is, from a symptomatic or familial perspective, more closely related to affective illness. The substantial gender difference in the prevalence rate of schizophrenia in Ireland cannot be explained by women having a greater resistance to the familial predisposition to illness.

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