SOCIAL SKILLS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA - ASSESSING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL SKILLS, PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND COMMUNITY FUNCTIONING

Social skills training (SST) has been widely used in attempts to rehab ilitate chronic schizophrenic patients. The key assumption underlying SST is that social skills deficts are important determinants of the so cial isolation, poor social role functioning, and low quality of life characteristic of schizophrenic patients. To test this assumption, 89 patients meeting DSM-III-R criteria for schizophrenia were assessed on behavioural and self-report measures of social skills. A structured c linical interview, a self-report inventory of distress during social i nteraction, and self-monitoring of time in social interaction were use d to assess social functioning. Positive psychotic symptoms were asses sed in a standardised clinical interview. A structural equation modell ing analysis showed that observed social skills predicted social funct ioning, and that this association was statistically independent of sev erity of psychotic symptoms. This finding is consistent with the hypot hesis that social skills are important in the social functioning of pa tients with schizophrenia.