THE NEW-YORK HIGH-RISK PROJECT - ATTENTION, ANHEDONIA AND SOCIAL OUTCOME

In the New York High-Risk Project we have followed two samples of subj ects (Sample A and Sample B) at risk for schizophrenic or affective di sorders and low-risk controls from childhood to adulthood, in an attem pt to identify early predictors of later psychopathology. We administe red a large number of cognitive, psychometric and other types of measu res to both samples as possible psychopathology predictors, including an index of attentional deviance assessed in childhood, the Physical A nhedonia Scale in adolescence, and three measures of social outcome in adulthood ('Suspicious Solitude', 'Social Insecurity', and 'Lack of E mpathy'), derived from the Personality Disorders Examination. In the a nalysis of the combined samples, parental diagnostic group, gender, at tentional deviance in childhood, and physical anhedonia in adolescence were used to predict three measures of social outcome in adulthood. W hile only physical anhedonia was directly related to all three social outcome measures, with the strongest relationship to Suspicious Solitu de, attention deviance successfully predicted two of the three outcome s. Subjects at risk for affective disorder did not show increased leve ls of attention deviance, physical anhedonia, or social dysfunction, r elative to the normal control subjects. Attention deviance appears to be a key neurobiological indicator and physical anhedonia appears to b e a potentiating factor mediating the relationship between risk for sc hizophrenia and later social dysfunction. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B. V.