Social functioning in schizophrenia. II. The effects of autonomic arousal.

The association between electrodermal arousal and social functioning was investigated. It was predicted that poor social functioning would be associated with higher levels of arousal. Patients were tested for a 15 minute period without their relative and for 15 minutes with their relative present. The prediction received some support from the results in that three subscales of the Social Adjustment Scale (SAS) showed a significant association between lower social functioning and higher arousal. This association showed a trend towards significance in the SAS Overall Score. When patients with high EE and low EE relatives were analysed separately, significant associations were only found for the high EE group. These results were interpreted as giving some support to the hypothesis that patients who are functioning poorly have relatively stable high levels of arousal.