Schizotypy in community samples: The three-factor structure and correlation with sustained attention.

Abstract

The authors examined cross-cultural applicability of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), the Perceptual Aberration Scale (PAS), and the Continuous Performance Test in community samples of Taiwanese adults and adolescents. The authors tested hypotheses that a 3-factor structure of the SPQ (Cognitive-Perceptual, Interpersonal, and Disorganization: A. Raine et al., 1994) exists for both samples and that the Interpersonal factor is associated with poorer attention. The authors replicated the 3-factor model for both samples, and they externally validated the model in adults: The Interpersonal factor and possibly the Disorganization factor were associated with poorer attention, whereas the Cognitive-Perceptual factor was not. The PAS differed from the Cognitive-Perceptual factor in its consistent association with poorer attention in both samples. These have important implications for the scales in the early detection of the schizotypy in various cultures.

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

“…Other studies have confirmed that simpler 1-factor and 2-factor models do not provide good fit to the data (Chen et al, 1997;Raine et al, 1994;Reynolds et al, 2000;Stefanis et al, 2004;Wuthrich and Bates, 2006). Although it could be suggested that the present findings supporting the 4-factor model of Stefanis et al (2004) are due to close similarities between the current sample and theirs, this is an unlikely sole explanation given that other factor analytic studies (e.g., Raine et al, 1994;Wuthrich and Bates, 2006) were conducted with English-speaking undergraduate samples similar to the one used in this study.…”

“…Items are grouped into nine subscales reflecting the DSM SPD criteria. As shown in Table 1, Cronbach's (α) internal consistency reliability coefficients for these subscales ranged .70-.83 (mean=.75) in the present sample, exceeding the means of .65 and .69 reported by Chen et al (1997) for adults and adolescents, respectively. Scores to measure three domains of schizotypy are typically derived by simple summation of subscale scores: the cognitive-perceptual domain (ideas of reference, odd beliefs or magical thinking, unusual perceptual experiences, and paranoid ideation/suspiciousness subscales); the interpersonal domain (excessive social anxiety, no close friends, constricted affect, and paranoid ideation/suspiciousness subscales); and the disorganized domain (odd or eccentric behavior and odd speech subscales).…”

“…Although Raine et al (1994) found support for the 3-factor model among 822 undergraduate students and other studies have confirmed this latent structure (Chen et al, 1997;Claridge et al, 1996;Reynolds et al, 2000;Rossi and Daneluzzo, 2002), the 4-factor model that included a paranoid factor evidently was not tested. At their initial demonstration of the 3-factor model, the authors recommended further testing to assess the model's factorial validity (Raine et al, 1994).…”

“…Scores to measure three domains of schizotypy are typically derived by simple summation of subscale scores: the cognitive-perceptual domain (ideas of reference, odd beliefs or magical thinking, unusual perceptual experiences, and paranoid ideation/suspiciousness subscales); the interpersonal domain (excessive social anxiety, no close friends, constricted affect, and paranoid ideation/suspiciousness subscales); and the disorganized domain (odd or eccentric behavior and odd speech subscales). 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).…”

“…Several exploratory (i.e., not requiring a priori hypotheses about how indicators are related to underlying factors or even the number of factors; Kline, 2005) and confirmatory (i.e., based on a priori measurement models in which both the number of factors and their correspondence to the indicators is explicitly specified; Kline, 2005) factor analytic studies have supported the initially proposed SPQ factor structure, wherein its nine subscales group into three domains: cognitive-perceptual, interpersonal, and disorganized (Calkins et al, 2004;Chen et al, 1997;Claridge et al, 1996;Gruzelier et al, 1996;Raine et al, 1994;Reynolds et al, 2000;Rossi and Daneluzzo, 2002).…”