Poor Premorbid Adjustment and Dysfunctional Executive Abilities Predict Theory of Mind Deficits in Stabilized Schizophrenic Outpatients

Abstract

Deficits in Theory of Mind (ToM) have been demonstrated in schizophrenia. The present study explored the relationship between ToM deficits, poor premorbid adjustment, and executive dysfunction in a sample of fifty-eight stabilized schizophrenic outpatients in contrast to a normative control group. Ordinal regression analysis revealed an association between deficits in both first- and second-order ToM tasks and poor social premorbid adjustment. In addition, deficits in first-order tasks showed an association with a low performance on the Trail Making Test B, while deficits in second-order tasks were related to male gender, a low performance on Block Design, and clozapine treatment. The R-square values amounted to 0.300 and 0.657, respectively. Years of illness evolution, the symptoms on the PANSS scale and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) diagnostic subtype were not significantly associated with first- or second-order ToM tasks. Results of this study define a h...