Representing schizotypal thinking with dimensional traits: A case for the Five Factor Schizotypal Inventory.

Abstract

Building on support for the five-factor model (FFM) of personality disorder, the Five Factor Schizotypal Inventory (FFSI) was developed to assess maladaptive traits relevant to schizotypal personality disorder. While the development of the FFSI supports a continuity between schizotypal thinking and perception (STAP) and the FFM domain of Openness to Experience, other studies show inconsistent findings concerning the strength of this relationship. The current study evaluates these relationships by investigating specific components of a short-form of the FFSI (e.g., the FFSI-SF) and 2 other measures of maladaptive traits with the lower order components within commonly employed measures of Openness to Experience. Nomological network similarities were evaluated for the relation of these scales with a series of conceptually relevant variables including intelligence, creativity, and positive schizotypy in a sample of 403 undergraduates, including 102 that were prescreened for elevated symptoms of schizotypal personality disorder (PD). These analyses revealed strong relations across the 3 measures of traits relevant to STAP, supporting the validity of the FFSI-SF. Most notably, 2 specific scales-Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) Absorption and Openness to Fantasy appeared to best capture the core variance across these measures. Furthermore, a nuanced pattern of relations suggested that specific components of STAP (e.g., oddity and fantasy proneness) matched closely with components of Openness to Experience. The results provide additional support for view that schizotypal thinking can be well-captured by personality dimensions that run continuously across normal and pathological levels. (PsycINFO Database Record

Validity and utility of Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP): I. Psychosis superspectrum

“…Similar dimensions emerged in research on clinical high risk for psychosis, which described positive and negative risk syndromes 91 . Positive schizotypy and positive risk syndrome were found to map onto psychoticism, and negative schizotypy and negative risk syndrome onto detachment 92,93 .…”

The Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD) from the Perspective of the Five-Factor Model

“…The studies that have obtained the weakest relationship of openness with psychoticism have typically relied on a NEO inventory or a closely comparable measure (e.g., [22, 25, 27]). Positive results have been more consistently obtained with the alternative measures of openness (e.g., [19, 23, 38-42]). For example, Gore and Widiger [20] conducted a joint factor analysis of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5; [43]) that assessed the DSM-5 dimensional trait model, along with the IPC-5 of Tellegen and Waller [36] and the 5-DPT of van Kampen [34], as well as the NEO PI-R [30].…”

Bucher et al. Personality traits and treatment outcomes meta-analysis

“…Thus, it might be that specific traits of openness to experience, such as those related to reflection, introspection, depth, and intelligence, would relate to improvement. In contrast, those related to imagination and fantasy proneness, which has been shown to be related with psychoticism (Moorman & Samuel, 2018;Suzuki, Griffin, & Samuel, 2016), might not relate strongly to an outcome like improvement and negatively impact therapeutic outcomes, particularly as they become fantasy-proneness or oddity such as those seen in schizotypal-type traits (Piedmont, Sherman, & Sherman, 2012).…”