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Improving social functioning deficits—a core characteristic of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders—is often listed by patients as a key recovery goal. Evidence suggests that social deficits also extend to people with schizotypy, a group at heightened risk for psychotic and other psychopathological disorders. One challenge of social functioning research in schizotypy is understanding whether social deficits arise from receiving less pleasure from social activities or from participating less in high-pleasure activities. However, limited information exists on what constitutes highly pleasurable, common social activities. In this study, 357 college students rated the frequency and enjoyment of 38 social activities. Our aims were to categorize activities based on their frequency and enjoyment, and whether these correlated with validated social functioning and schizotypy measures. We found that social activities could be characterized based on their frequency and enjoyment and created a frequency–enjoyment matrix that could be useful for future studies. Activities were correlated with social functioning, generally reaching a small effect size level, with increasing frequency and enjoyment showing associations with greater social functioning. Further, negative and disorganized—but not positive—traits were associated with less engagement and pleasure. Although follow-up studies in community samples are needed, our findings have the potential to help researchers and clinicians better understand which activities participants are more likely to engage in and derive pleasure from. The findings may also illustrate the extent to which social deficits may be due to less engagement or less pleasure from social activities, as well as which aspects of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders are associated with these facets of social functioning.

Traumatic experiences are associated with increased experiences of positive schizotypy. This may be especially important for People of Color, who experience higher rates of trauma and racial discrimination. No study to date has examined how racial disparities in traumatic experiences may impact schizotypy. Furthermore, of the studies that have examined the relationship between trauma and schizotypy, none have examined racial discrimination as a potential moderator. The present study examined if racial discrimination moderates the relationship between trauma and multidimensional (positive, negative, and disorganized) schizotypy. In a sample of 770 college students, we conducted chi-squared analyses, analyses of variance, and stepwise regressions. We found that Black students experienced significantly higher racial discrimination and trauma than Latinx and Asian students. Furthermore, Black and Latinx students experienced significantly more multidimensional schizotypy items than Asian students. Trauma and racial discrimination explained 8 to 23% of the variance in each dimension of schizotypy. Racial discrimination did not moderate the relationships between trauma and multidimensional schizotypy. Our findings suggest that we need to examine risk factors that may prevent recovery from psychotic disorders. Additionally, disorganized schizotypy showed the most robust associations and may be a critical site of intervention.