title: The Effect of Age, Race, and Sex on Social Cognitive Performance in Individuals With Schizophrenia.
abstract: Age, race, and sex are linked to social cognitive performance among healthy individuals, but whether similar effects are evident in schizophrenia is unknown. Data from 170 individuals with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and 98 healthy controls were used to examine relations between these demographic factors and performance across multiple domains and measures of social cognition. Sex was not related to performance on any domain, but older age was related to poorer emotion recognition from dynamic stimuli in both patients and controls. In patients, older age was also associated with better abilities to decipher hints. Both Caucasian patients and controls performed better than African American individuals on emotion recognition and mental state attribution tasks that use only Caucasian individuals as visual stimuli. Findings suggest rather limited influences of demographic factors but do demonstrate normative age and race effects among patients. Findings also highlight important methodological considerations for measurement of social cognition.
authors.affiliation: *School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas; †Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas; ‡Department of Psychology, University of California, La Jolla; §Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX; ∥Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; ¶Research Service, Bruce W Carter VA Medical Center, Miami, FL; #Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; and **Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Amy E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Pinkham
authors.forename: Skylar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kelsven
authors.forename: Chrystyna
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kouros
authors.forename: Philip D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Harvey
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Penn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000208:ethnology; D000367:Age Factors; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012737:Sex Factors; D012938:Social Perception; D056345:Theory of Mind / Q000502:physiology*; D044465:White People / Q000208:ethnology