title: Emotional granularity and social functioning in individuals with schizophrenia: an experience sampling study.
abstract: Previous research has shown that healthy individuals who fail to differentiate among emotional states (i.e., those with low emotional granularity; EG) have poorer social functioning (SF) than those with high EG. It is unknown, however, whether these associations extend to clinical disorders characterized by impaired SF, such as schizophrenia. In the present study, we compared SF and EG in individuals with schizophrenia and healthy controls, and then, within the schizophrenia group, we examined the links between EG and SF. Employing an Experience Sampling Method approach, 77 individuals with schizophrenia and 27 healthy controls rated their momentary emotions (sadness, anxiety, anger, and happiness) up to 10 times/day over a two-day period using mobile electronic devices. For each participant, we then calculated the within-subject average correlations among the momentary emotion ratings, producing two EG indices - EGIall for all emotions and EGIneg for negative ones. A subsample of participants with schizophrenia also completed self-report, interview, and ability-based measures of SF. Compared to healthy controls, individuals with schizophrenia displayed significantly poorer SF and lower EGIall, but comparable EGIneg. Within the schizophrenia group, hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that EGIall, but not EGIneg, significantly predicted social dysfunction after controlling for emotional awareness, symptoms, and emotional intensity and variability. Our findings indicate that individuals with schizophrenia have a relatively intact ability to differentiate among negative emotions in everyday life. However, they experience significant difficulties differentiating between positive and negative emotions, and this may contribute to their social difficulties.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA; New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: kimhyda@nyspi.columbia.edu.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kimhy
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vakhrusheva
authors.affiliation: New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Samira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Rachel W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Marie C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA; New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Jacob S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Ballon
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, New York University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Dolores
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Malaspina
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
authors.forename: James J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Gross
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000150:complications*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012917:Social Adjustment; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Ambulatory assessment; Ecological momentary assessment; Emotion processing; Emotion regulation; Emotional awareness; Emotional granularity; Emotions; Experience Sampling Method; Schizophrenia; Social cognition; Social functioning; Social support