Interpersonal sensitivity and functioning impairment in youth at ultra-high risk for psychosis

• Published in: European child & adolescent psychiatry Vol. 25; no. 1; pp. 7 - 16
• Main Authors: Masillo, A., Valmaggia, L. R., Saba, R., Brandizzi, M., Lindau, J. F., Solfanelli, A., Curto, M., Narilli, F., Telesforo, L., Kotzalidis, G. D., Di Pietro, D., D’Alema, M., Girardi, P., Fiori Nastro, P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult; Attorneys; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; Clinical assessment; Female; Health problems; Help seeking behavior; High risk; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Mediation; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Mental health; Negative symptoms; Original Contribution; Personality; Personality traits; Prodromal Symptoms; Psychiatry; Psychology; Psychopathology; Psychosis; Psychosocial factors; Psychosocial functioning; Psychotic Disorders - diagnosis; Psychotic Disorders - psychology; Risk Factors; Risk groups; Schizophrenia; Sensitivity; Social Adjustment; Social functioning; Social interactions; Statistical analysis; Studies; Surveys and Questionnaires; Symptoms; Therapeutic applications; Young Adult; Young adults; United Kingdom > UK; Italy; Social functioning; Ultra-high risk; Interpersonal sensitivity; Negative prodromal symptoms
• ISSN: 1018-8827; 1435-165X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00787-015-0692-6

A personality trait that often elicits poor and uneasy interpersonal relationships is interpersonal sensitivity. The aim of the present study was to explore the relationship between interpersonal sensitivity and psychosocial functioning in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis as compared to help-seeking individuals who screened negative for an ultra-high risk of psychosis. A total sample of 147 adolescents and young adult who were help seeking for emerging mental health problems participated in the study. The sample was divided into two groups: 39 individuals who met criteria for an ultra-high-risk mental state (UHR), and 108 (NS). The whole sample completed the Interpersonal Sensitivity Measure (IPSM) and the Global Functioning: Social and Role Scale (GF:SS; GF:RS). Mediation analysis was used to explore whether attenuated negative symptoms mediated the relationship between interpersonal sensitivity and social functioning. Individuals with UHR state showed higher IPSM scores and lower GF:SS and GF:RS scores than NS participants. A statistically negative significant correlation between two IPSM subscales (Interpersonal Awareness and Timidity) and GF:SS was found in both groups. Our results also suggest that the relationship between the aforementioned aspects of interpersonal sensitivity and social functioning was not mediated by negative prodromal symptoms. This study suggests that some aspects of interpersonal sensitivity were associated with low level of social functioning. Assessing and treating interpersonal sensitivity may be a promising therapeutic target to improve social functioning in young help-seeking individuals.