Schizotypal traits and daily social functioning: Insights from ecological momentary assessment

Elevated schizotypal traits are a risk factor for developing schizophrenia and other forms of psychopathology. Because schizophrenia is marked by social functioning difficulties, examining how schizotypal traits shape everyday interactions can clarify early risk processes. Although ecological momentary assessment (EMA) has been used to examine social interaction likelihood (how often people interact), depth (complexity of content in interactions), and enjoyment (pleasure derived from interactions) in people with schizophrenia, few have explored differences in social interactions across schizotypal traits (positive, negative, and disorganized). This study used EMA to evaluate how positive, negative, and disorganized schizotypal traits in college students (n = 185) relate to social interaction likelihood, depth, and enjoyment in daily life. Given their established role in social functioning and their complex relationships with schizotypal traits, we also investigated whether affect and stress predict individuals' concurrent likelihood, depth, and enjoyment of social interactions. Results revealed that negative traits more strongly predicted reduced social interaction likelihood (B = -0.02, p = .04) and enjoyment (B = -0.06, p < .01) compared to positive (likelihood: B = 0.01, p = .37; enjoyment: B = 0.03, p = .02) and disorganized (likelihood: B = 0.00, p = .85; enjoyment: B = -0.04, p = .04) traits. Contrary to hypotheses, positive affect emerged as the strongest predictor of social interaction outcomes, surpassing negative affect and stress. Additionally, we observed a significant interaction between positive schizotypal traits and negative affect (B = -0.01, p = .03), such that individuals higher in positive traits showed a stronger reduction in enjoyment when experiencing negative affect. These findings enhance our understanding of how schizotypal traits and affect impact daily social interactions and may inform future personalized interventions designed to improve social functioning deficits in at-risk individuals.