Envisioning a Hopeful Future Despite Schizophrenia: The Role of Self-Concept Clarity and Narrative Identity

Schizophrenia (SZ) has been linked with a pessimistic future outlook but the specific factors influencing such outlook are still to be mapped out. SZ is often referred to as a self-disorder and sense of self has been suggested to be a crucial factor influencing future view. Using a mixed-measurement approach, the present study examined two aspects of temporal sense of self in SZ-self-concept clarity and narrative identity-and tested whether each uniquely contributed to predicting future outlook (i.e., levels of future hope and the perceived influence of diagnosis on one's future). A total of 130 adults with SZ participated in the study (M_age = 34.58, SD = 10.22). Self-concept clarity was assessed through self-report and narrative identity through open-ended elaborations on the future that were content coded following gold-standard procedures. Hope for the future was assessed using self-report and perceived influence of diagnosis in the future was assessed through content coded, open-ended elaborations. Both self-concept clarity and narrative identity contributed independently to a more hopeful future outlook while self-concept clarity alone impacted whether diagnosis was expected to influence the future. Distinct dimensions of the temporal sense of self were associated with future outlook in schizophrenia, and their potential role in the recovery process was discussed.