<p>Social dysfunction is a hallmark of schizophrenia and leads
to significant disability and distress. Decreased positive and increased
negative affect predict poorer social functioning in those with schizophrenia.
Social functioning and affect have traditionally been measured in the
laboratory; yet, these methods are limited. Experience sampling methods (ESM) offer
more immediate, ecologically valid assessments of these constructs. The purpose
of this study was to examine social functioning and affect in schizophrenia
using a novel form of ESM that passively collects audio data. The two primary
hypotheses were: 1) clinical status (schizophrenia versus control) will predict
social functioning, level of positive affect, and level of negative affect; and
2) the relationship between clinical status and affect will be moderated by
context (social versus non-social). Additional
exploratory aims tested the convergent validity between traditional,
laboratory-based assessments of social functioning and this novel ESM.
Data was collected from 38
people with schizophrenia and 36 control participants; Results partially
supported the hypotheses. As expected, laboratory measures of social
functioning revealed that those with schizophrenia performed worse than
controls. ESM measures of social functioning found that the schizophrenia group
interacted with others at the same rate as the control group but did not
exhibit as much social engagement. ESM measures of affect revealed the
schizophrenia group reported more negative affect than controls, but no
differences in positive affect were found. Social context did not moderate the
relationship between clinical status and affect. Lastly, correlations between laboratory
measures and ESM measures of social functioning were significant for the
schizophrenia group but not the control group. Results further our
understanding of social functioning and affect in those with schizophrenia and
yield important implications for future work.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/12374843 |
| Date | 15 June 2020 |
| Creators | Danielle Margaret Beaudette (8894072) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/Investigation_of_Social_Dysfunction_and_Affect_in_Schizophrenia/12374843 |
Page generated in 0.0019 seconds