Krijnen Lisa J G, Lemmers-Jansen Imke L J, Fett Anne-Kathrin J, Krabbendam Lydia
Child and Adolescent Studies, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
Department of Clinical, Neuro and Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Front Psychol. 2021 Dec 16;12:769091. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.769091. eCollection 2021.
Social contact is known to be beneficial for humans' mental health. Individuals with psychotic symptoms (PS) tend to show poorer social and interpersonal functioning. However, in this patient population, social contact may be crucial for their mental wellbeing and treatment success. Additionally, closeness of social contact (familiar versus less familiar others), rather than only the presence or absence of social contacts, may play an important role. Empathy may heighten the beneficial effects of social/close contact on mental health, facilitating interactions. We investigated the association between social contact and closeness of contact on mental health, defined as positive symptoms, positive affect and negative affect in PS and control participants, with empathy as a moderator. Participants were 16-30 years old. Information regarding social/close contact and mental health was obtained using the experience sampling method in individuals with PS ( = 29) and healthy controls ( = 28). Empathy was measured using a self-report questionnaire. Social contact was associated with higher positive affect in the total sample. Contact with close as opposed to less close others was related to better mental health: It was associated with lower positive symptoms in the PS group, and with more positive affect in the total sample. Empathy moderated the association between closeness of contact and positive affect in the total sample, in which the combination of higher levels of empathy combined with the presence of close contact was associated with higher positive affect in the total sample. However, the direct association between empathy and positive affect was not significant per group of contact. The results suggest that social contact, but especially contact with a close other is important for mental health outcomes: Contact with close others is beneficial for positive affect in the total sample and for positive symptoms in individuals with PS.
众所周知，社交对人类心理健康有益。有精神病症状（PS）的个体往往表现出较差的社交和人际功能。然而，在这一患者群体中，社交对他们的心理健康和治疗成功可能至关重要。此外，社交接触的亲密程度（熟悉与不太熟悉的人），而非仅仅社交接触的有无，可能起着重要作用。同理心可能会增强社交/亲密接触对心理健康的有益影响，促进互动。我们以同理心作为调节变量，研究了社交接触及其亲密程度与心理健康之间的关联，心理健康定义为PS患者和对照组参与者的阳性症状、积极情绪和消极情绪。参与者年龄在16至30岁之间。我们采用经验取样法，获取了PS患者（n = 29）和健康对照组（n = 28）关于社交/亲密接触和心理健康的信息。同理心通过一份自我报告问卷进行测量。社交接触与总样本中更高的积极情绪相关。与不太亲密的人相比，与亲密的人接触与更好的心理健康相关：在PS组中，这与较低的阳性症状相关，在总样本中与更多的积极情绪相关。同理心调节了总样本中接触亲密程度与积极情绪之间的关联，其中较高水平的同理心与亲密接触同时存在与总样本中更高的积极情绪相关。然而，每组接触中同理心与积极情绪之间的直接关联并不显著。结果表明，社交接触，尤其是与亲密的人接触，对心理健康结果很重要：与亲密的人接触对总样本中的积极情绪以及PS患者的阳性症状有益。
