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Temperament and its relation to social functioning in schizophrenia.
Michelle K Jetha1, Joel O Goldberg, Louis A Schmidt
1Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. mjetha@brocku.ca
The International Journal of Social Psychiatry
|January 25, 2012
Summary
Individuals with schizophrenia experience heightened shyness, which impacts social functioning. Brief measures of shyness and sociability effectively assess these traits and predict social outcomes in patients.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Clinical Psychology
- Social Neuroscience
Background:
- Previous research indicated increased shyness in stable outpatients with schizophrenia compared to healthy individuals.
- Shyness was identified as a potential risk factor for impaired social functioning in this population.
Purpose of the Study:
- To replicate and extend previous findings on shyness in schizophrenia.
- To compare a brief trait measure of shyness and sociability (SS) with the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) for assessing personality dimensions.
Main Methods:
- Compared stable outpatients with schizophrenia (n=41) and matched healthy controls (n=41) using the SS and TCI.
- Assessed clinical symptoms with the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) and social functioning with the Quality of Life Scale (QLS).
Main Results:
- Schizophrenia patients reported significantly higher shyness, harm avoidance, and retrospective inhibition, alongside lower novelty seeking, self-directedness, and cooperativeness than controls.
- Shyness and sociability scores correlated with TCI sub-scales and predicted social functioning in patients, independent of clinical symptoms.
Conclusions:
- Individual differences in trait shyness and sociability influence social functioning in stable outpatients with schizophrenia.
- Brief trait measures of shyness and sociability are supported for use in this population.
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