Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia.
The Ross Center, Washington, DC.
J Nerv Ment Dis. 2023 Jan 1;211(1):74-78. doi: 10.1097/NMD.0000000000001585.
Reduced metacognitive abilities-difficulty making sense of and understanding oneself and others-have been found to be key predictors of social functioning across a range of clinical and nonclinical groups. However, the exact processes through which metacognition impacts social functioning are unclear. This study examined whether subclinical negative symptoms mediated the relationship between metacognition and social functioning in a nonclinical sample of young adults (n = 98). Results demonstrated that lower metacognitive mastery was found to be uniquely associated with greater subclinical negative symptoms, whereas higher subclinical negative symptoms were associated with reduced social functioning. Further, the effects of lower metacognition on reduced social function were mediated by subclinical negative symptoms and not positive or disorganized subclinical symptoms. Results suggest that subclinical negative symptoms may link reductions in metacognition with social functioning in nonclinical samples. Training aimed at enhancing metacognition may support normative social functioning in the general population.
元认知能力下降——即难以理解和认识自己和他人——已被发现是一系列临床和非临床群体社会功能的关键预测因素。然而，元认知影响社会功能的确切过程尚不清楚。本研究在年轻成年人的非临床样本中(n=98)，考察了亚临床阴性症状是否在元认知和社会功能之间的关系中起中介作用。结果表明，较低的元认知掌握被发现与更大的亚临床阴性症状有独特的关联，而较高的亚临床阴性症状与社会功能降低有关。此外，较低的元认知对社会功能降低的影响是由亚临床阴性症状介导的，而不是阳性或紊乱的亚临床症状。结果表明，亚临床阴性症状可能将元认知的降低与非临床样本中的社会功能联系起来。旨在增强元认知的训练可能会支持普通人群的正常社会功能。
