Social affective forecasting and social anhedonia in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: A daily diary study

Abstract

Social anhedonia (SA) is a pernicious symptom observed across schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SSDs). While in-the-moment social pleasure experiences are intact in SSDs, anticipatory pleasure experiences may be disrupted. Thus, the ability to predict future affect in social situations, or social affective forecasting (SAF), may play a role in SA. Therefore, we utilized daily diary methods to examine SAF in SSDs and the association between SAF and SA in 34 SSD and 43 non-SSD individuals. SAF was calculated as the difference between anticipatory and consummatory ratings of 13 positive and negative emotions for daily social interactions reported across eight days. Results suggest that individuals with SSDs are less accurate in forecasting negative, but not positive affect, for future social interactions. Further, decreased forecasting accuracy of negative affect was associated with elevated levels of SA and lower social pleasure. Together, these data suggest that inaccuracies in forecasting negative affect may be a worthwhile intervention target for reducing SA in SSDs.