The relation between social behavior and negative affect in psychosis-prone individuals: an experience sampling investigation

Abstract

Daily social behavior and negative affect were examined in a sample of individuals with a wide spectrum of psychosis-proneness scores. Using the experience sampling method, participants were signaled five times per day for a 1-week period to provide naturalistic reports of location, activity, and social behavior. Little evidence was found for a direct association between psychosis-proneness and specific behavioral profiles, but individuals with higher scores of psychosis-proneness reported spending more time doing nothing or waiting. However, the levels of anxious and depressed moods experienced in certain social and environmental contexts were also predicted by psychosis-proneness scores. The present results indicate that psychosis-proneness was associated with an increase in anxiety when individuals were with friends and an increase in depressed mood in daily task situations such as working or studying. By contrast, psychosis-proneness predicted a decrease in depressed and anxious moods in other situations when the individual was not likely to be confronted by social contact with less known individuals, and lower anxious and depressed moods when in secure environments (in one’s own home, home of family or friends). The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of understanding the expression of psychosis vulnerability and the potential reinforcement of maladaptive social behavior through operant conditioning mechanisms.