title: The interactive effects of negative symptoms and social role functioning on suicide ideation in individuals with schizophrenia.
abstract: Findings regarding the protective effect of social role functioning on suicide ideation in individuals with schizophrenia have been mixed. One reason for such inconsistencies in the literature may be that individuals with prominent negative symptoms of schizophrenia may not experience a desire for social closeness, and therefore social role functioning may not influence suicide risk in these individuals. The aim of this study was to examine the moderating effects of self-reported desire for social closeness and interviewer-rated negative symptoms on the relationship between social role functioning and suicide ideation. Our sample consisted of 162 individuals who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders; all participants completed self-report questionnaires and clinician-administered interviews, and moderation hypotheses were tested with a non-parametric procedure. The results indicated that motivation and pleasure-related negative symptoms moderated the relationship between social role functioning and suicide ideation; self-reported desire for social closeness and negative symptoms related to expression did not have such a moderating effect. Specifically, better social role functioning was associated with less suicide ideation only in those individuals who had low motivation and pleasure-related negative symptoms; no significant relationship was observed between social role functioning and suicide ideation among those with elevated motivation and pleasure-related negative symptoms. These findings suggest that assessing for negative symptoms and social role functioning may inform suicide risk assessments in individuals with schizophrenia, and improving social role functioning may reduce suicide ideation among those with few motivation and pleasure-related negative symptoms.
authors.affiliation: VA Capitol Health Care Network (VISN 5) Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, VA Maryland Health Care System, 10 N. Greene St. (Annex Room 723A), Baltimore, MD 21201, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 737 W. Lombard St., Suite 551, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. Electronic address: danielle.jahn@va.gov.
authors.forename: Danielle R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Jahn
authors.affiliation: VA Capitol Health Care Network (VISN 5) Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, VA Maryland Health Care System, 10 N. Greene St. (Annex Room 723A), Baltimore, MD 21201, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 737 W. Lombard St., Suite 551, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. Electronic address: mbennett@psych.umaryland.edu.
authors.forename: Melanie E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.affiliation: VA Capitol Health Care Network (VISN 5) Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, VA Maryland Health Care System, 10 N. Greene St. (Annex Room 723A), Baltimore, MD 21201, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, 737 W. Lombard St., Suite 551, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. Electronic address: stephanie.park3@va.gov.
authors.forename: Stephanie G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 10th Floor Gates Building, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. Electronic address: raquel@upenn.edu.
authors.forename: Raquel E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Gur
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Jane & Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, 11301 Wilshire Blvd., Bldg. 210, Mail Code: 210A, Rm. 115, Los Angeles, CA 90073, USA. Electronic address: horan@ucla.edu.
authors.forename: William P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Horan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, 3210 Tolman Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650, USA. Electronic address: kring@berkeley.edu.
authors.forename: Ann M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Kring
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, 1147 Biology/Psychology Building, College Park, MD 20742, USA. Electronic address: jblancha@umd.edu.
authors.forename: Jack J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Blanchard
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D059445:Anhedonia; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D012559:Schizophrenia; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D057566:Self Report; D012919:Social Behavior; D059020:Suicidal Ideation; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Belonging; Moderation; Protective factors; Social anhedonia; Social closeness