Affiliation:
1. Department of Psychology City, University of London London UK
2. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences University in Osijek Osijek Croatia
3. Department of Psychosis Studies Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London London UK
Abstract
AbstractAimsSchizotypy reflects the vulnerability to schizophrenia in the general population. Different questionnaires have been developed to measure aspects of schizotypy. Higher schizotypy scores have also been linked with depression, anxiety, and stress sensitivity. Here we examine the associations of schizotypy with symptoms of depression and anxiety in a sample of university students, using two different measures (N = 271).MethodsA series of confirmatory factor analyses was used to examine two distinct and frequently employed measures of schizotypy: the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE), and the Schizotypy Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). We assessed their relationship with each other and their predictive validity for anxiety, depression, and stress sensitivity.ResultsOur results indicated the brief 7‐factor SPQ (SPQ‐BR) factor solution for the SPQ and the 15‐item and 3 factor solution for the CAPE (i.e., CAPE‐P15) as best fitting models. Particularly the CAPE dimension of persecutory ideation was a strong predictor of anxiety, depression, and stress sensitivity, whereas the SPQ dimensions of no close friends and social anxiety predicted psychological distress and stress in our student sample.ConclusionsOur findings extend earlier work in general and patient samples and point to the importance of understanding the contribution of particularly positive schizotypy symptoms and different interpersonal aspects to psychological distress.
Subject
Biological Psychiatry,Psychiatry and Mental health,Pshychiatric Mental Health