정신분열병의 양성아형과 음성아형에 따른 사회적 지지망의 차이

Difference of Social Network between Positive and Negative Subtypes of Schizophrenia

In this study, positive versus negative symptoms of schizophrenia were examined in relation to social networks. The subjects consisted of 36 positive symptom (PS) and 35 negative symptom (NS) groups of schizophrenics admitted to the Anyang Neuropsychiatric Hospital. There was no significant difference in sociodemographic data(ie. sex, age, education etc) between the two groups. Structurally, the social network of NS group was smaller and contained lesser number of friends and family members than PS group. Furthermore, with respect to the functional aspect of social network, 1) The frequency of contact, comfortability, and material support given by the patients were much less in NS group. However, there was no difference in emotional, material, and informative support between the two groups. 2) In contrast with the PS group, in the ‘most important person’ category of social network in the NS group, the proportion of ‘other people’ (fellow patients, hospital staff etc) was much higher than that of friends and family members. 3) All negative symptoms correlated negatively with the size of social network. However, no such relationship existed among PS group. These results indicate close relationships existing between different types of schizophrenic symptoms and the structural and functional aspect of social network.