Sex, Affect, And Cognitive Perseveration In Schizophrenia

Objectives: The current study sought to examine the relationship between sex, affect, and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test perseveration in 125 individuals with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder to identify whether negative affect acted as a mediator and whether sex differences existed on BDI-II depression, BAI anxiety, PANAS negative affect, and WCST perseveration. Design: This was a cross-sectional study with participants recruited from a local outpatient facility. This design was used to address our study objectives of identifying a mediator and/or sex differences as they currently exist in this sample of adult individuals. Methods: Participants signed study consent forms, then completed a sociodemographic form, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory-II, and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. Participants were also administered the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Results: Primary findings included a lack of support for the mediator hypothesis but the existence of a significant sex by Beck Anxiety Inventory score interaction, reflecting a significant difference in perseveration between men with minimal/mild anxiety scores and moderate/severe anxiety scores. The difference in mean perseveration scores between women with minimal/mild and moderate/severe anxiety scores was not significant. Conclusions: Men were more perseverative in the presence of anxiety. Women, however, were less perseverative at higher levels of negative affect than at lower levels of negative affect, although this difference was nonsignificant. This pattern of sex differences is discussed from several perspectives including the Taylor-Spence drive theory.