Comparing symptoms and emotion recognition in African American and White samples with schizophrenia

Authors:
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Racial status has an important role in schizophrenia, with African American samples being rated lower than White participants on a range of constructs. In many studies, however, demographic factors are not accounted for. In the present study, African American (n = 106) and White participants (n = 81) were compared on symptom severity and emotion recognition scales while controlling for other demographic factors. Contrary to our hypothesis, there were no differences in symptoms between racial groups. However, White participants performed better on an emotion recognition measure than African Americans. These differences were most prominent in response to negatively-valenced stimuli. This study replicated previous findings of racial differences in emotion recognition but not symptom severity. Future research should assess the role of racial identity on symptom severity. In addition, further research is needed to assess if utilising multi-ethnic stimuli improves performance by racial minorities on emotion recognition measures.
Funding Information
  • Center for Integrated Healthcare, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (D6629R)
  • Indiana University
  • Rehabilitation Research and Development Service
  • National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (KL2TR001106, UL1TR001108)
  • National Institutes of Health

This publication has 19 references indexed in Scilit: