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PubMed2000

Childhood schizotypy and positive symptoms in schizophrenic patients predict schizotypy in relatives.

BACKGROUND: Schizotypy is one phenotypic expression of the familial-genetic liability to schizophrenia, but its precise relationship to frank psychotic symptoms remains unclear. We, therefore, set out to examine the relationships between (a) premorbid personality in schizophrenic patients, (b) the psychopathology they showed, and (c) schizotypal traits in their relatives. METHOD: Ninety consecutively admitted schizophrenic patients were interviewed with the Present State Examination (PSE). Their mothers were interviewed concerning their childhood personality and social adjustment, and 121 of their well relatives were evaluated with three different schizotypal scales. Factor analyses were carried out on (a) the nine main psychotic symptoms from the patients' PSE interview, and on (b) the schizotypal features derived from the scales completed by the first-degree relatives. Correlation coefficients were calculated between premorbid personality traits, and factor scores in probands and in relatives. RESULTS: No relationship was found between childhood schizoid-schizotypal personality traits and any particular dimension of psychopathology in patients. The positive syndrome in patients was correlated with higher scores for relatives on the three schizotypy scales, but did not predict any specific pattern of schizotypy in the relatives. Premorbid schizoid-schizotypal traits were also correlated with schizotypy in the relatives. CONCLUSIONS: Schizotypy in relatives has a familial relationship with schizoid-schizotypal traits in the childhood, and with positive symptoms during the illness, of schizophrenic patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

The structure of schizotypy: a pilot multitrait twin study.

This report of a pilot study examines 29 pairs of twins from a population-based registry on whom four domains of schizotypy have been measured: personal interview using the Structured Interview for Schizotypy, self-report questionnaire formed from eight published self-report scales, attentional battery of eight individual tests, and root mean square error on smooth pursuit eye tracking. Analyzing the twins as individuals revealed two independent dimensions of clinically rated schizotypy (positive symptom schizotypy and negative symptom schizotypy) and two independent dimensions of self-rated schizotypy (positive trait schizotypy and trait anhedonia). Positive symptom schizotypy was highly correlated with positive trait schizotypy, but not with attentional dysfunction or eye-tracking error. By contrast, negative symptom schizotypy was significantly related to trait anhedonia, attentional dysfunction, and eye-tracking error. Correlations in monozygotic and dizygotic twins suggested that genetic factors were important in all four domains of schizotypy. Except for eye-tracking error, the results are more consistent with a dimensional than a "disease" model of schizotypy. Replication of these results with a larger group of subjects is needed.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Schizotypy: phenotypic marker as risk factor.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate measures of schizotypy as familial risk factors for schizophrenia with the aim of making recommendations for assessing schizotypy as part of screening procedures for identifying people at risk of schizophrenia. METHOD: Published studies using self-report and interview-based measures of schizotypy to assess relatives of patients with schizophrenia are reviewed. A parent study is reported evaluating the diagnostic accuracy of parental schizotypy as assessed by three questionnaire-based measures: the Chapman Perceptual Aberration and Physical Anhedonia Scales, and the Eysenck Psychoticism Scale. Group scores for these self-report ratings of 23 parent-pairs of patients with schizophrenia, 20 parent-pairs of patients with chronic nonpsychotic psychiatric disorder, and 19 parent-pairs of healthy comparison subjects are compared. RESULTS: Consistent with published evidence that self-report measures of psychosis-proneness and schizotypy do not consistently reflect familial risk factors that are specific for schizophrenia, scores on questionnaire measures of schizotypy did not distinguish the parents of patients with schizophrenia from the parents in the other two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Interview-based assessments of schizotypy better assess familial risk factors than self-report measures of schizotypy. Questionnaire measures of schizotypy should be supplemented by interview-based assessments when screening for individuals at risk of schizophrenia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

The multidimensionality of self-report schizotypy in a psychiatric population: an analysis using multidimensional Rasch models.

There is increasing empirical evidence from factor analytical studies that schizotypy is composed of three dimensions. All studies into the multidimensionality of schizotypy used common factor analysis of scales, either exploratory or confirmatory. We argue that for research into the multidimensionality of schizotypy with dichotomous item responses on questionnaires (as with the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire [SPQ], Raine 1991) much can be learned using generalized multidimensional Rasch models (GMRMs). GMRMs require a priori postulated models of schizotypy, which can be tested in confirmatory analyses. We hypothesized four competing models of schizotypy, based on the literature and clinical impressions-two two-dimensional models and two three-dimensional models. We also hypothesized that items differ in the degree they are indicative of a particular dimension of schizotypy. The sample was 418 psychiatric inpatients and outpatients, with moderate levels of psychopathology, who filled in the SPQ. Both three-dimensional models yielded a much better fit to the data than both two-dimensional models. Our revised three-dimensional model, a revision of that by Raine et al. (1994) and Gruzelier (1996), yielded the best fit. It consisted of positive schizotypy, disorganization, and negative schizotypy. The results strongly suggest that schizotypy, as measured with the SPQ, is a three-dimensional construct.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Evidence of a schizotypy subtype in OCD.

OCD patients represent a heterogeneous mix of clinical phenotypes, likely reflecting a wide range of genetic vulnerabilities. In other medical illnesses, neurobiologically-based traits with a genetic component that are associated with the target disorder have been successfully used to detect patients with a specific genetic liability to disease. The overlap between symptoms of OCD and Schizophrenia suggested that schizotypal traits could have the potential to distinguish a relatively homogeneous subtype of OCD. We obtained schizotypy scores for 119 affected adult probands who met lifetime criteria for DSM-IV OCD. Five subscales from the Structured Interview of Schizotypy were used to assess ideas of reference, suspiciousness, magical thinking, illusions and psychotic-like thought. Selected for their obvious face validity with the cardinal signs of schizophrenia, Cronbach's alpha suggested that these subscales also provided a reliable measure of positive sign schizotypy (0.83). Fifty percent of our OCD sample had mild to severe positive schizotypy signs. t- and chi2 tests of significance suggested seven variables that distinguished OCD patients with schizotypy, including earlier age of onset, greater number of comorbid diagnoses and increased rates of learning disability, aggressive and somatic obsessions and counting and arranging compulsions. Three of these seven variables, including learning disabilities, counting compulsions and history of specific phobia, significantly increased the odds of schizotypy among patients with lifetime OCD. These findings enhanced the validity of the schizotypy construct in OCD. Whether this schizotypy subtype can distinguish a subgroup of patients with relatively homogeneous genetic characteristics waits further investigation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

The multidimensionality of schizotypy.

We present an overview of self-report scales for measuring schizotypy and a review of factor-analytical studies of these scales. These studies show that schizotypy is a multidimensional construct consisting of three or four factors. Positive Schizotypy, Negative Schizotypy, Nonconformity, and possibly Social Anxiety/Cognitive Disorganization. Clinical and external validation studies provide support for the construct validity of the Positive Schizotypy and Negative Schizotypy factors, but as yet fail to support the Nonconformity and Social Anxiety/Cognitive Disorganization factors. In accordance with this multidimensional structure, the scales for measuring schizotypy can be classified as factor-specific scales. We consider the striking similarities between the multidimensionality of schizotypal traits and the multidimensionality of schizophrenic symptoms. We also look at the similarities and differences between schizotypy and normal personality traits. Some practical and theoretical implications of these relationships are discussed.

Diagnosis, Differential↗
PubMed1994

Psychometric high-risk paradigm, perceptual aberrations, and schizotypy: an update.

The psychometric high-risk strategy represents a useful methodologic adjunct to the traditional genetic high-risk research approach in the study of the etiology and development of schizophrenia. During the past 15 years, considerable research activity has focused on psychometrically identified individuals hypothesized to be en route to schizophrenia (i.e., putative schizotypes). The Perceptual Aberration Scale (PAS) has figured prominently in such prediction-oriented psychometric high-risk work. This report examines research using the PAS completed since 1987 that has established the instrument as a valid index for detecting liability for schizophrenia (or schizotypy) and as, arguably, the schizotypy index of choice for research. These results are presented and interpreted in light of Meehl's theoretical framework of schizotypy. Other measures of and assessment devices for schizotypy (schizophrenia-related liability) are identified. Of these other measures, the Chapmans' Magical Ideation Scale and the schizophrenia liability index of Moldin and colleagues are particularly well established. Methodologic suggestions for future psychometric high-risk and other work using objective measures of schizotypic psychopathology are offered. It is strongly recommended that future studies of schizotypy (or those in the planning stages, relying on psychometric detection methods use multiple psychometric indices to tap schizotypy or use a psychometric index in association with other promising biobehavioral markers of schizophrenia liability (e.g., sustained attentional deficits, eye movement dysfunction) for maximum efficiency in both location and definition of schizotypes.

Body Image↗
PubMed1989

Detection of familial schizophrenia using a psychometric measure of schizotypy.

This study examined the lifetime expectancy (morbid risk) of schizophrenia, unipolar depression, and bipolar disorder in the first-degree relatives of 101 nonpsychotic psychiatric patients (probands) who were classified as schizotypy-positive or schizotypy-negative using a psychometric measure of schizotypy, the Perceptual Aberration Scale. The relatives of schizotypy-positive probands were significantly more likely to have been treated for schizophrenia than the relatives of schizotypy-negative probands. Morbid risk for unipolar depression or bipolar disorder among first-degree relatives did not differ between the proband groups. The results support Meehl's theory of the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and enhance the construct validity of the Perceptual Aberration Scale. The heuristic potential of a psychometric high-risk strategy in schizophrenia research is discussed and the need for replication of the present study is emphasized.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

The relationship between dissociative tendencies and schizotypy: an artifact of childhood trauma?

Previous research has suggested a relationship between dissociative tendencies and schizotypy. This study sought to extend the previous work in two fundamental respects. First, explicit cognizance was taken of the multidimensionality of both dissociative tendencies and schizotypy. Second, the study examined the possibility that the observed correlation between dissociative tendencies and schizotypy is an artifact of the association between each of these personality domains and a history of childhood trauma. Australian adults (N = 116) were administered the Dissociative Experiences Scale, the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief, and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that both pathological and nonpathological dissociative tendencies were predicted by the dimensions of schizotypy, even after the contribution of childhood trauma had been removed. It is concluded that the relationship between dissociative tendencies and schizotypy is not an artifact of childhood abuse, but the clinical significance of this relationship remains to be established.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Visual processing, lateralization and syndromes of schizotypy.

There is an association between positive features of schizotypy and dyslexia, largely involving distortions of visual and auditory perception and associated cognitive anomalies. In dyslexia, there is strong evidence for a disorder of subcortical magnocellular pathways, which may underlie these perceptual aberrations. Here we investigated visual processing in relation to three syndromes of schizotypy-Active, Withdrawn and Unreality-in normal adults, using a "dot localization" test of visual direction sense on which dyslexics perform poorly, and which should be sensitive to magnocellular dysfunction. Results showed that increased error scores were associated with both the positive syndromes, Active and Unreality, which in this study were highly correlated. There were also interactions between each syndrome and the direction of errors, such that high scorers on the Unreality and Active syndromes made more errors on leftward trials, while high Withdrawn subjects made fewer left and more right errors. Mixed handers also showed poorer performance than consistent handers. The evidence of poor visual direction sense in relation to positive syndromes of schizotypy and mixed handedness is consistent with the previous results for dyslexics, who also show these features. The opposite lateralization of errors in the positive v negative syndromes of schizotypy is in keeping with the model of hemisphere imbalance and patterns of cognitive asymmetry which distinguish Active from Withdrawn syndromes. These results are considered in relation to the proposal that a disorder of magnocellular function may underlie the perceptual distortions which are common to dyslexia and positive syndromes of schizotypy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

The effect of family status and schizotypy on electrophysiologic measures of attention and semantic processing.

BACKGROUND: Disturbances in both attention and language are central to the phenomenology of the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relative contributions of two factors, family status and schizotypy, on electrophysiologic measures of attention and semantic processing in family members of individuals with schizophrenia. METHODS: Fifteen first-degree relatives of individuals with schizophrenia and 15 comparison subject controls participated in diagnostic evaluations, an assessment of schizotypy, and two event-related potential (ERP) paradigms. The first paradigm was an auditory P300 "oddball" task designed to assess attentional functioning. The second was an N400 sentence paradigm particularly sensitive to language processing. RESULTS: Both relatives and individuals higher in schizotypy, but not their respective comparison groups, showed reductions in P300 amplitude. In the N400 paradigm, individuals higher in schizotypy, but not relatives, showed a reduced N400 effect. There were no differences in latency for either group on either component. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that both family status and schizotypal presentation independently contribute to disturbances in electrophysiologic measures sensitive to attention and language. Whereas higher levels of schizotypy appear to be associated with disturbances in both attention and language processing, family membership appears to place individuals at risk for attentional deficits alone.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Two-point discrimination thresholds and schizotypy: illuminating a somatosensory dysfunction.

The current study sought to determine if somatosensory deviations, assessed by determining two-point discrimination thresholds, were associated with schizotypic features in non-psychotic subjects (N=100). It was hypothesized that elevated two-point discrimination thresholds would be associated with an increased likelihood of higher levels of schizotypy features. The results of the study suggested that at the level of individual differences, higher two-point discrimination thresholds (ascending series assessments) were associated with higher levels of schizotypy as operationalized by several prominent measures of schizotypy. A deviant subgroup analysis clearly suggested that, for ascending series two-point threshold assessments, those persons requiring the greatest distance (i.e. highest thresholds) to detect two-point stimulation were substantially more schizotypic than a contrast group. Control analyses that focused on psychological state (depression, anxiety) and intellectual functioning variables revealed that these factors were, more or less, unrelated to two-point discrimination thresholds and they did not account for the observed significant relations between the schizotypy scales and two-point threshold values. The results of this study are discussed within a neuropsychological context implicating parietal cortex involvement with schizotypy and schizophrenia.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Developmental instability and schizotypy.

INTRODUCTION: It has been suggested that evidence of developmental disturbance of cognition and lateralisation in schizophrenia can be best understood from the perspective of developmental stability (DS), an indicator of the extent to which an individual develops according to a specified ontogenic programme in the presence of environmental noise. Higher levels of fluctuating asymmetry (FA; the difference between right and left side of a quantitative morphological trait such as dermatoglyphics) are thought to reflect less DS. We examined this issue for dimensions of schizotypy. METHODS: Associations between FA, measures of laterality and cognitive function on the one hand, and negative and positive dimensions of schizotypy on the other, were examined in a sample of 260 healthy adolescents aged 11.9-15.6years. FA was measured as a-b ridge count right-left differences. Neuropsychological measures yielded a general cognitive ability score and a frontal function score. Laterality was assessed with the Annett scale. RESULTS: Measures of psychosis proneness were normally distributed. Negative schizotypy was associated with more FA and lower general cognitive ability in a dose-response fashion. The association with FA was more apparent in boys. No associations existed with laterality or frontal function. CONCLUSION: The negative dimension of schizotypy may be associated with early developmental instability, resembling the pattern seen in the negative symptom dimension of schizophrenia. Measures of fluctuating asymmetry may be more sensitive with regard to the schizotypy phenotype than measures of laterality.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Deeper into the schizotypy taxon: on the robust nature of maximum covariance analysis.

Prior research has suggested that the latent structure of the schizotypy construct (P. E. Meehl, 1990) may be qualitative in nature and have a low base rate (L. Korfine & M. F. Lenzenweger, 1995; M. F. Lenzenweger & L. Korfine, 1992). These studies relied on the application of maximum covariance analysis (MAXCOV) to 8 true-false format items from a schizotypy measure. The current study sought to examine the robustness of those prior findings through MAXCOV analysis of fully quantitative measures of schizotypy. Measures of perceptual aberration, magical ideation, and referential thinking were analyzed using MAXCOV in a sample of 429 persons. The results of these analyses strongly support a latent taxonic structure for schizotypy and a low base rate for the schizotypy taxon. Furthermore, the members of the putative taxon reveal an increased level of deviance on a psychometric measure known to be associated with schizophrenia liability. The possibility that the dichotomous item format of those items analyzed previously with MAXCOV lead to spurious pseudotaxonicity is greatly diminished in light of these results.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Dissociation, schizotypy, and fantasy proneness in undergraduate students.

Previous research has noted a robust correlation between dissociation and schizophrenia-like symptoms. One way to interpret the relationship between dissociation and schizotypy is to assume that it is an artifact of fantasy proneness. In the present study, 152 undergraduates completed measures of dissociation, schizotypy, and fantasy proneness. Dissociative tendencies were found to be related to the full range of schizotypal features. Regression analysis showed that schizotypy still contributed to the prediction of dissociative tendencies when variance related to fantasy proneness was extracted. These results indicate that the close connection between dissociation and schizotypy cannot be interpreted in terms of an artifact produced by fantasy proneness. Thus, the overlap between dissociation and schizotypy warrants systematic study.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

The structure of schizotypy, its relation to subdiagnoses of schizophrenia and to sex and age.

A growing amount of evidence suggests that the generally accepted division of schizophrenic symptomatology into positive and negative aspects should be extended to include a third major aspect, namely 'disorganization/social impairment'. As schizotypy can be seen as the non-pathological counterpart of schizophrenia, possibly brought about by the same 'schizotaxic' predisposition(s), it might be expected that the multidimensionality of schizotypy would reflect the tripartite structure seen in schizophrenia. Although the data from studies using scales to measure schizotypy do not clearly support this view, this is mainly because of the relative lack of comparability among the scales used in different studies. Results from the present study, which involve the factor analysis of items rather than scales derived from the testing of a large and diverse population of normal subjects, does, however, support the view that measures of schizotypy may be grouped in a parallel way to symptoms shown by populations of schizophrenic subjects. The suggestion may thus be made that the symptom groupings shown by schizophrenics may be seen as primary and not the secondary result of reactions to earlier phases of the illness. The role of sex and age in the determination of scores on schizotypic dimensions is also examined and show that the sex and age differences found in subdiagnostic categories in schizophrenia are reflected in dimensions of schizotypy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Explorations in schizotypy and the psychometric high-risk paradigm.

This chapter has presented a brief history of clinical and research interest in schizotypic psychopathology. Specific attention was focused on the theoretical model of schizotypy proposed by Meehl (1962, 1990), and the research implications of his model were discussed. Current (i.e., post-1980) schizotypy assessment methods were highlighted for consideration by those investigators who might conceptualize future research in schizotypy. A brief overview of the psychometric high-risk approach to schizotypy detection and current research conducted by the present author was discussed. Finally, a variety of methodologic issues that should be considered in the design and execution of future schizotypy research were surveyed and specific recommendations were made.

Body Image↗
PubMed1992

Confirming the latent structure and base rate of schizotypy: a taxometric analysis.

Meehl's (1962, 1990) model of schizotypy and the development of schizophrenia implies that the structure of liability for schizophrenia is dichotomous and that a "schizogene" determines membership in a latent class, or taxon (Meehl & Golden, 1982). The authors sought to determine the latent structure and base rate of schizotypy. They applied Meehl's (1973; Meehl & Golden, 1982) MAXCOV-HITMAX taxometric analytic procedures to a subset of items from the Perceptual Aberration Scale (PAS; Chapman, Chapman, & Raulin, 1978), a prominent psychometric index of schizotypy, derived from a randomly ascertained nonclinical university sample (N = 1,093). The results, in accordance with Meehl's conjectures, strongly suggest that schizotypy, as assessed by the PAS, is taxonic at the latent level with a general population taxon base rate of approximately .10.

Adult↗