Skip Navigation



Schizophrenia Bulletin Advance Access published online on October 22, 2009
Schizophrenia Bulletin, doi:10.1093/schbul/sbp107
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Blanchard, J. J.
Right arrow Articles by Cohen, A. S.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Blanchard, J. J.
Right arrow Articles by Cohen, A. S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Social Anhedonia and Schizotypy in a Community Sample: The Maryland Longitudinal Study of Schizotypy

Jack J. Blanchard1,2, Lindsay M. Collins2, Minu Aghevli3, Winnie W. Leung2 and Alex S. Cohen4
2 Department of Psychology, University of Maryland at College Park, College Park, MD 20742
3 Department of Psychiatry, Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center
4 Department of Psychology, Lousiana State University

1 To whom correspondence should be addressed; tel: 301-405-8438, fax: 301-314-9566, e-mail: jblanchard{at}psyc.umd.edu.

Social anhedonia has been employed in psychometric high-risk studies to identify putative schizotypes. To date, this research has focused almost exclusively on college samples. The current study sought to examine the validity of social anhedonia as an indicator of risk for schizophrenia-spectrum disorders within a community sample. Furthermore, we evaluated the role of other individual difference variables in accounting for variable clinical severity within the social anhedonia group including trait affectivity, social support, and family environment. Following the mailed questionnaire screening of 2434 eighteen-year olds, laboratory assessments were conducted with individuals identified as being high in social anhedonia (n = 86) and a comparison sample (n = 89). Compared with the control group, individuals in the social anhedonia group were found to have higher rates of mood disorders, elevated schizophrenia-spectrum personality disorder characteristics, greater negative symptom characteristics, and lower global functioning. Individuals within the social anhedonia group also reported greater trait negative affectivity, lower positive affectivity, less social support, and more family conflict. Low social support and problematic family environment were found to be related to elevations in spectrum personality disorder characteristics and poorer functioning within the social anhedonia group. These cross-sectional findings from a community sample provide further support for social anhedonia as a possible indicator of schizotypy.

Keywords: schizotypy / anhedonia / schizophrenia / personality / traits / vulnerability


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.