The proposed study has two general aims: 1) To examine the social functioning of schizophrenic patients and determine whether they have specific, differential social skill deficits; 2) To evaluate the validity and utility of role play tests for assessing interpersonal behavior. Schizophrenic patients will be compared to matched groups of non-schizophrenic patients and non-patients. They will be assessed three times over the course of one year. A comprehensive battery of measures will be employed, including psychiatric ratings, self-report, behavioral observation, staff and significant other ratings, and measures of premorbid competence. The study will provide important data on the nature of social dysfunction in schizophrenia, the relationship of dysfunction to other aspects of symptomatology, differences in social performance between schizophrenics and non-schizophrenics and between symptomatically distinct sub-groups of schizophrenics, and on the validity of the social skills model of interpersonal dysfunction. The results will have important implications for the assessment and treatment of schizophrenia.
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