title: Experience of pleasure and emotional expression in individuals with schizotypal personality features.
abstract: Difficulties in feeling pleasure and expressing emotions are one of the key features of schizophrenia spectrum conditions, and are significant contributors to constricted interpersonal interactions. The current study examined the experience of pleasure and emotional expression in college students who demonstrated high and low levels of schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) traits on self-report questionnaires. One hundred and seventeen subjects with SPD traits and 116 comparison controls were recruited to participate. Cluster analyses conducted in the SPD group identified negative SPD and positive SPD subgroups. The negative SPD group exhibited deficient emotional expression and anticipatory pleasure, but showed intact consummatory pleasure. The positive SPD group reported significantly greater levels of anticipatory, consummatory and total pleasure compared to the control group. Both SPD groups reported significantly more problems in everyday memory and greater levels of depressive and anxiety-related symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yan-fang
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiao-yan
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Ya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yu-na
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ji-gang
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Zong
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Vincent W S
authors.initials: VW
authors.lastname: Tse
authors.forename: Xiao-lu
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Hsi
authors.forename: William S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Stone
authors.forename: Simon S Y
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Lui
authors.forename: Eric F C
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Cheung
authors.forename: Raymond C K
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012569:Schizotypal Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult