The Nithsdale Schizophrenia Surveys. XV. Social adjustment in schizophrenia: associations with gender, symptoms and childhood antecedents.

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between childhood social adjustment and personality and adult social adjustment and symptoms in a population of schizophrenic patients. Adult social adjustment was assessed in 43 patients by means of the Social Adjustment Scale Self-Report, and symptoms were assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale and the Subjective Deficit Syndrome Scale. Childhood social adjustment and personality were assessed by means of interviews with patients' mothers. Patients displayed poorer adult social adjustment than a normal population, but no significant differences existed between the sexes. A strong association was found between childhood and adult social adjustment in male subjects. Stronger correlations between social adjustment and current symptoms, particularly positive symptoms, were found in females than in males. Associations in males were stronger for negative symptoms. We observed significant correlations between poor adult social adjustment and severity of illness and abnormalities of personality and social adjustment in childhood. There were substantial differences between the sexes in these associations.