The structure of schizotypal personality traits: a cross-national study.

BACKGROUND: Schizotypal traits are considered a phenotypic-indicator of schizotypy, a latent personality organization reflecting a putative liability for psychosis. To date, no previous study has examined the comparability of factorial structures across samples originating from different countries and cultures. The main goal was to evaluate the factorial structure and reliability of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) scores by amalgamating data from studies conducted in 12 countries and across 21 sites. METHOD: The overall sample consisted of 27 001 participants (37.5% males, n = 4251 drawn from the general population). The mean age was 22.12 years (s.d. = 6.28, range 16-55 years). The SPQ was used. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Multilevel CFA (ML-CFA) were used to evaluate the factor structure underlying the SPQ scores. RESULTS: At the SPQ item level, the nine factor and second-order factor models showed adequate goodness-of-fit. At the SPQ subscale level, three- and four-factor models displayed better goodness-of-fit indices than other CFA models. ML-CFA showed that the intraclass correlation coefficients values were lower than 0.106. The three-factor model showed adequate goodness of fit indices in multilevel analysis. The ordinal α coefficients were high, ranging from 0.73 to 0.94 across individual samples, and from 0.84 to 0.91 for the combined sample. CONCLUSIONS: The results are consistent with the conceptual notion that schizotypal personality is a multifaceted construct and support the validity and utility of SPQ in cross-cultural research. We discuss theoretical and clinical implications of our results for diagnostic systems, psychosis models and cross-national mental health strategies.

Internal encoding style and schizotypy: toward a conceptually driven account of positive symptoms.

Perception results from a combination of actual data and interpretive schemata based on preexisting knowledge. Thus, ensuing subjective experience depends on the dynamic interplay between data-driven and conceptually driven processing. A chronic imbalance between these two sources of stimulus encoding is likely to be maladaptive and could underlie cognitive and behavioral disturbances similar to those observed in schizotypy, especially if the balance is tipped too far toward conceptually driven processing (i.e., Internal encoding style). This study aimed to examine the relationships between encoding style and various dimensions of schizotypy by using a questionnaire that evaluates the extent to which preexisting schemata (versus cues from the outside world) affect encoding processes. Consistent with previous findings, the authors' results revealed that both Cognitive-Perceptual and Disorganization dimensions were related to an internal mode of encoding, suggesting that individuals with these features may be characterized by a disposition to biases at early stages of encoding.