Factorial Composition of Self-Rated Schizotypal Traits Among Young Males Undergoing Military Training

Abstract

The aim of this study within the Athens Study of Psychosis Proneness and Incidence of Schizophrenia (ASPIS) was the examination of the latent structure of schizotypal dimensions among a large population of young male conscripts in the Greek Air Force during their first week of military training. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted on 1,355 reliable responders to the self-rated Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), which covers all nine aspects of DSM-III-R schizotypal personality disorder (SPD). A four-factor model (cognitive/perceptual, paranoid, negative, and disorganization schizotypal dimensions) provided a better fit to the data than did other competing models (one-, two-, three-, four, and five-factor models). This result is in agreement with recent findings supporting the notion of a multidimensional construct of the schizotypy and related schizophrenia phenotype.

Confirmation of a four-factor structure of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire among undergraduate students

“…Specifically, five models proposed in the literature (Kendler et al, 1991;Raine et al, 1994;Seiver and Gunderson, 1983;Stefanis et al, 2004;Wuthrich and Bates, 2006), depicted in Figure 1, as well as five models hierarchically related to several of these, were examined. Several indices were selected a priori to assess the fit of measurement models to the data.…”

“…Both exploratory (Calkins et al, 2004;Gruzelier et al, 1996) and confirmatory (Chen et al, 1997;Raine et al, 1994;Reynolds et al, 2000) factor analyses have suggested that the SPQ comprises these three factors. However, recent studies have demonstrated other factor structures (Stefanis et al, 2004;Wuthrich and Bates, 2006). Two other traditional schizotypy scales were administered so that their correlations with the derived SPQ domains could be examined.…”

“…However, more recent confirmatory factor studies have suggested that other models of the latent 5 structure (i.e., the underlying, hidden groupings of items that are intrinsic to the measure, but not necessarily obvious), of the SPQ may fit better (Stefanis et al, 2004;Wuthrich and Bates, 2006).…”

“…Examination of this measurement model is crucial, given that numerous studies derive cognitive-perceptual, interpersonal, and disorganized subscale scores based on this factorial structure. Further, the present study aimed to select the best-fitting factor structure from among five models proposed in the literature (Kendler et al, 1991;Raine et al, 1994;Seiver and Gunderson, 1983;Stefanis et al, 2004;Wuthrich and Bates, 2006), as well as five additional hierarchically related, or nested models (i.e., one is a subset of the other after trimming or modifying the initial model based on theoretical or empirical considerations; Kline, 2005). It should be noted that these 10 models do not represent an exhaustive offering of potential models; for example, Boyle and Baxter performed a series of factor analyses on the SPQ and found a 2-factor solution that separated positive and negative schizotypal traits, as well as 3-and 4-factor models that further subdivided the positive traits (Green et al, 2008).…”

Study of Neurocognitive correlates of Schizotypy Personality Clusters in healthy individuals

“…Factor analytic studies of schizotypy traits have shown at least three components: negative, positive and disorganization dimensions [3][4][5][6][7][8] . Similarly, factor analytic studies in schizophrenia have reliably shown that psychotic symptoms can be grouped into positive, negative and disorganization dimensions [9][10][11][12][13][14][15] .…”