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. 2010 Nov;119(4):875-85.
doi: 10.1037/a0020908.

Expressed emotion and sociocultural moderation in the course of schizophrenia

Adrian Aguilera  1 , Steven R López, Nicholas J K Breitborde, Alex Kopelowicz, Roberto Zarate
Affiliations

Expressed emotion and sociocultural moderation in the course of schizophrenia

Adrian Aguilera et al. J Abnorm Psychol. 2010 Nov.

Abstract

This study examined whether the sociocultural context moderates the relationship between families' expressed emotion (EE) and clinical outcomes in schizophrenia. In a sample of 60 Mexican American caregivers and their ill relatives, we first assessed whether EE and its indices (criticism, emotional overinvolvement [EOI], and warmth) related to relapse. Second, we extended the analysis of EE and its indices to a longitudinal assessment of symptomatology. Last, we tested whether bidimensional acculturation moderated the relationship between EE (and its indices) and both relapse and symptom trajectory over time. Results indicated that EOI was associated with increased relapse and that criticism was associated with increased symptomatology. Additionally, as patients' Mexican enculturation (Spanish language and media involvement) decreased, EE was increasingly related to relapse. For symptomatology, as patients' U.S. acculturation (English language and media involvement) increased, EE was associated with increased symptoms longitudinally. Our results replicate and extend past research on how culture might shape the way family factors relate to the course of schizophrenia.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
High EE is related with the highest rates of relapse among those low in Mexican enculturation.
Figure 2
Figure 2
High levels of criticism are predictive of a positive symptom slope indicating increasingly worsening symptoms over time based on baseline criticism ratings.
Figure 3
Figure 3
U.S. acculturation is a moderator such that High EE predicts the steepest positively slope of symptoms for those high in U.S. acculturation, whereas for those low in U.S. acculturation, high EE predicts a positive but less steep symptom trajectory.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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