Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Development of a Virtual Reality Assessment of Everyday Living Skills
Published on: April 23, 2014
The relation of social support-seeking to quality of life in schizophrenia
Abstract:
Social support-seeking has been shown to improve the outcome of schizophrenia. However, no study to date has documented the impact of social support seeking on self-perceived quality of life in schizophrenia, particularly not on the relation between symptoms and quality of life. The present study explored this issue with a sample of 58 outpatients diagnosed with schizophrenia without comorbidity. Social support seeking, symptoms (positive, negative, and extrapyramidal), and multidimensional self-reported quality of life were assessed cross-sectionally. Negative symptoms were inversely related to the quality of life domain of activities of daily living. Other symptoms and social support-seeking were not related to quality of life, and social support-seeking did not interact with symptoms in their relation to quality of life. Social support-seeking may thus not be beneficial (nor disruptive) as a way of coping with symptoms in schizophrenia. More studies are needed in order to investigate the relation of social support-seeking to symptoms and to quality of life in serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, so that interventions with persons suffering from these disorders may be better guided.
Related Concept Videos
Social Exchange Theory
Schizophrenia
Psychological and Sociocultural Causes of Schizophrenia
Social Relationships and Well-Being
Importance of Need for Affiliation
Social Exchange Theory

