The prospective relationships among intrinsic motivation, neurocognition, and psychosocial functioning in schizophrenia

To address significant gaps in our understanding about how neurocognition, intrinsic motivation (IM), and psy-chosocial functioning are interrelated in schizophrenia, this study investigated the following questions: Is IM sta-ble or dynamic over time? Does neurocognition predict change in IM over time? What is the association between change in neurocognition, change in IM, and change in psychosocial functioning? Finally, what is the causal structure of the relationships among neurocognition, IM, and psychosocial functioning over time? One hundred and thirty individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were recruited from 4 commu-nity-based psychosocial rehabilitation programs in urban Los Angeles. Measures of neurocognition were taken at baseline and 12 months. Measures of IM, psychosocial functioning, and symptoms were taken at baseline, 6, and 12 months. Results of latent growth curve modeling analyses demonstrated that IM is dynamic over time. Baseline neurocognition was associated with the initial level of IM but did not predict the rate of change in mo-tivation. However, baseline levels of IM predicted rates of subsequent improvement in neurocognition. Change in IM was strongly associated with change in psychosocial func-tioning, and change in neurocognition was associated with change in psychosocial functioning, but change in IM was not associated with change in neurocognition. Latent dif-ference score analyses revealed that neurocognition caused changes in psychosocial functioning, and psycho-social functioning caused changes in IM. These findings improve our fundamental understanding of the relation-ships among these variables and contribute to intervention development for improving outcomes in schizophrenia. Key words: intrinsic motivation/neurocognition/ schizophrenia/psychosocial functioning/outcome/ rehabilitatio