Depression predicts self assessment of social function in both patients with schizophrenia and healthy people. (February 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Oliveri, Lisa N.; Awerbuch, Adam W.; Jarskog, L. Fredrik; Penn, David L.; Pinkham, Amy; Harvey, Philip D.
• Is Part Of: Psychiatry research. Volume 284(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-02
• Subjects: Schizophrenia -- Depression -- Self Assessment -- Social Cognition -- Social Functioning; Psychiatry -- Periodicals; Psychiatry -- periodicals; Psychiatrie -- Périodiques; 616.89
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2019.112681
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0165-1781

Abstract

Highlights: Depression has been reported to be associated with self reports of skills and functioning in healthy people (HC) and people with schizophrenia SCZ. Depression predicted self-reported social functioning and social cognition equivalently in HC and people with SCZ. Depression predicted self reports of social functioning more substantially then diagnosis or sex. Abstract: Background: Impairments in social functioning are central to Schizophrenia (SCZ). Patients with SCZ have challenges in the ability to evaluate their functioning. A correlate of self-assessments in SCZ is depression, wherein negligible depression predicts overestimation. Healthy individuals misestimate their functioning, but mild dysthymia predicts accuracy. We examined depression, gender, and schizophrenia as predictors of self-reported everyday functioning. Methods: 218 people with SCZ and 154 healthy controls self-reported their social functioning. They self-reported their depression with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and their social cognitive ability on the Observable Social Cognition Rating Scale (OSCARS). Results: 64% of subjects were male. Schizophrenia patients reported more depression, poorer social functioning, and worse social cognition. Linear regression analyses revealed significant correlations between self-reported social functioning and BDI scores, which also predicted self-reported social cognition. There was no significant effect of sex on self-reports of social functioning or social cognition. Finally, when BDI and OSCARS were directly compared to diagnosis and sex for prediction of self-reported social functioning, there was no impact of diagnosis or sex. Implications: Self-reported interpersonal functioning is determined by current depression. Both healthy people and people with schizophrenia index their social functioning and their social cognitive by their level of depression.