Positive affect during social interactions predicts goal progress and social motivation in daily life for people with schizophrenia.

Experiences of positive and negative affect can impact social motivation, including desire and effort towards social connection. Although people with schizophrenia report lower social motivation and more negative affect in daily life than matched controls, they also experience pleasure from social interactions. In the current study, we were interested in examining the extent to which positive and negative affect related to recent social interactions predicted social goal progress and motivation in daily life. Within the context of a digital health intervention (Motivation and Skills Support, or MASS), 30 people with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder worked towards a social goal and completed ecological momentary assessments twice a day for 60 days on affect experienced from recent social interactions, progress on one's goal, and different facets of social motivation. Results showed that participants reported more positive than negative affect in response to social interactions. However, only positive (not negative) affect predicted greater social goal progress and social motivation towards one's goal across the intervention. These results suggest that facilitating positive affect experiences during social interactions, over and above reducing negative affect, may be important for improving social motivation in this population.