Negative symptoms have consistently been found to contribute to functional impairment in schizophrenia. In this pilot study, we sought to delineate the core negative symptoms that contribute to this functional impairment. Adult outpatients with schizophrenia were evaluated for the severity of positive, negative, cognitive, and depressive symptoms. The Quality of Life Scale was used to assess current functioning. Results from 21 participants revealed that a motivation was the sole predictor of functioning, accounting for 74% of the variance in current functioning. This suggests that motivational deficits are the central link between negative symptoms and functional impairment in schizophrenia.