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Thought disorder in mid-childhood as a predictor of adulthood diagnostic outcome: findings from the New York High-Risk Project

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2012

D. C. Gooding ,
S. L. Ott ,
S. A. Roberts  and
L. Erlenmeyer-Kimling
D. C. Gooding*
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
S. L. Ott
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
S. A. Roberts
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
L. Erlenmeyer-Kimling
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: D. C. Gooding, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA. (Email: dgooding@wisc.edu)
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Abstract

Background

Thought disorder has been proposed as an indicator of schizotypy, which is considered to be necessary but not sufficient for the development of schizophrenia. It is unclear whether thought disorder is an indicator of susceptibility (i.e. an endophenotype) for schizophrenia. The goal of the present study was to elucidate the role of thought disorder in relation to schizotypy by examining its presence in high-risk individuals during mid-childhood.

Method

The sample consisted of 265 subjects drawn from the New York High-Risk Project. Individuals at high risk for schizophrenia (i.e. offspring of parents with schizophrenia) were compared with individuals at low risk for schizophrenia (i.e. offspring of parents with affective disorder or offspring of psychiatrically normal parents). Videotaped interviews were rated for thought disorder using the Scale for the Assessment of Thought, Language, and Communication (TLC). The same subjects were administered diagnostic interviews in late adolescence/early adulthood.

Results

Although positive thought disorder was equally present in subjects with affective and non-affective psychoses, negative thought disorder (namely, poverty of speech and poverty of content of speech) was elevated only in subjects with schizophrenia-related psychosis. Logistic regression analyses revealed that negative thought disorder added to the prediction of schizophrenia-related psychosis outcomes over and above positive thought disorder.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that negative thought disorder may have a specific association with schizotypy, rather than a more general association with psychosis. The findings also support consideration of negative thought disorder as an endophenotypic indicator of a schizophrenia diathesis.

Keywords

Endophenotypepsychosisschizophreniathought disorder
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 43 , Issue 5 , May 2013 , pp. 1003 - 1012
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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