Racial disparities and predictors of functioning in schizophrenia.

Abstract

Black Americans are diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders at more than twice the rate of White individuals and experience significantly worse outcomes following diagnosis. Little research has examined specific factors that may contribute to worse functional outcomes among Black Americans diagnosed with schizophrenia. One approach to understanding why racial disparities emerge is to examine established predictors of functioning in this population: Neurocognition, social cognition, and symptom severity. The current study aims to broaden existing literature on racial differences within these domains by (1) examining racial differences in functioning and these established predictors of functioning (i.e., neurocognition, social, and symptom severity) and (2) investigating whether cognition and symptom domains similarly predict functioning between Black and White Americans with schizophrenia.