Neurocognitive, social and clinical correlates of two domains of hopelessness in schizophrenia.

While hopelessness has been widely observed in schizophrenia and its clinical significance accepted, research has been equivocal regarding its relationship to symptoms and neurocognition. One possible reason for this is that different domains of hope have differential relationships to outcome. To explore this possibility, two aspects of hope, expectations of the future and motivation to persist were assessed along with neurocognition, personality, symptoms and social function among 52 persons in a post acute phase of schizophrenia. Multiple regressions revealed that neuroticism, verbal memory and income were each uniquely related to expectations of the future, accounting for almost one half of the variance (F=14.3, p<0.0001). By contrast, neuroticism and social isolation were uniquely related to motivational hope (F=13.6, p<0.0001), accounting for 35% of the variance. Positive and negative symptoms were unrelated to either form of hopelessness. Implications for research, and the development of interventions are discussed.