Quality versus quantity: Determining real-world social functioning deficits in schizophrenia

Social dysfunction is a hallmark of schizophrenia that is associated with emotional disturbances. Researchers have employed ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to measure social and emotional functioning in people with schizophrenia. Yet, few studies have evaluated quality of real-world social interactions, and it is unclear how interactions impact emotional experiences in this population. Using novel EMA that passively collects audio data, we examined daily social behavior and emotion in schizophrenia (n = 38) and control (n = 36) groups. Contrary to hypotheses, both groups interacted with others at the same rate and exhibited similar levels of positive emotion. However, as expected, the schizophrenia group exhibited significantly less high-quality interactions and reported more negative emotion than controls. Social versus non-social context did not influence experienced emotion in either group. This is the first real-world study to passively assess quality of social interactions in schizophrenia. Although those with schizophrenia did not differ in their number of interactions, they were less likely to engage in substantive, personal conversations. Because high-quality interactions are linked with better social outcomes, this finding has important potential treatment implications. Future research should investigate quality of interactions across different types of social activities to gain a more nuanced understanding of social dysfunction in schizophrenia.