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The structure of schizotypal personality traits: a cross-national study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2017

E. Fonseca-Pedrero ,
M. Debbané ,
J. Ortuño-Sierra ,
R. C. K. Chan ,
D. C. Cicero ,
L. C. Zhang ,
C. Brenner ,
E. Barkus ,
R. J. Linscott  and
T. Kwapil
...Show all authors
E. Fonseca-Pedrero*
Affiliation:
Department of Educational Sciences, University of La Rioja, Logroño, Spain Center for Biomedical Research in the Mental Health Network (CIBERSAM), Oviedo, Spain
M. Debbané
Affiliation:
Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK
J. Ortuño-Sierra
Affiliation:
Department of Educational Sciences, University of La Rioja, Logroño, Spain
R. C. K. Chan
Affiliation:
Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS key Laboratory of Mental Health, Beijing, China
D. C. Cicero
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
L. C. Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
C. Brenner
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
E. Barkus
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia
R. J. Linscott
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
T. Kwapil
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA
N. Barrantes-Vidal
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
A. Cohen
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Louisiana, LA, USA
A. Raine
Affiliation:
Departments of Criminology, Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
M. T. Compton
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, NY, USA
E. B. Tone
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA
J. Suhr
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA
J. Muñiz
Affiliation:
Center for Biomedical Research in the Mental Health Network (CIBERSAM), Oviedo, Spain Department of Psychology, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain
A. Fumero
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
S. Giakoumaki
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Crete, Rethymno, Greece
I. Tsaousis
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Crete, Rethymno, Greece
A. Preti
Affiliation:
Genneruxi Medical Center, Cagliari, Italy
M. Chmielewski
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA
J. Laloyaux
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway NORMENT - Norwegian Center of Excellence for Mental Disorders Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
A. Mechri
Affiliation:
Psychiatry Department, University Hospital of Monastir, Monastir, Tunisia
M. A. Lahmar
Affiliation:
Psychiatry Department, University Hospital of Monastir, Monastir, Tunisia
V. Wuthrich
Affiliation:
Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
F. Larøi
Affiliation:
Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway NORMENT - Norwegian Center of Excellence for Mental Disorders Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition Research Unit, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
J. C. Badcock
Affiliation:
Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry, Division of Psychiatry, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
A. Jablensky
Affiliation:
Centre for Clinical Research in Neuropsychiatry, School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
*
*Address for correspondence: E. Fonseca-Pedrero, University of La Rioja, C/Luis de Ulloa, s/n, Edificio VIVES; C.P: 26002, Logroño, La Rioja, Spain. (Email: eduardo.fonseca@unirioja.es)
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Abstract

Background

Schizotypal traits are considered a phenotypic-indicator of schizotypy, a latent personality organization reflecting a putative liability for psychosis. To date, no previous study has examined the comparability of factorial structures across samples originating from different countries and cultures. The main goal was to evaluate the factorial structure and reliability of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) scores by amalgamating data from studies conducted in 12 countries and across 21 sites.

Method

The overall sample consisted of 27 001 participants (37.5% males, n = 4251 drawn from the general population). The mean age was 22.12 years (s.d. = 6.28, range 16–55 years). The SPQ was used. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Multilevel CFA (ML-CFA) were used to evaluate the factor structure underlying the SPQ scores.

Results

At the SPQ item level, the nine factor and second-order factor models showed adequate goodness-of-fit. At the SPQ subscale level, three- and four-factor models displayed better goodness-of-fit indices than other CFA models. ML-CFA showed that the intraclass correlation coefficients values were lower than 0.106. The three-factor model showed adequate goodness of fit indices in multilevel analysis. The ordinal α coefficients were high, ranging from 0.73 to 0.94 across individual samples, and from 0.84 to 0.91 for the combined sample.

Conclusions

The results are consistent with the conceptual notion that schizotypal personality is a multifaceted construct and support the validity and utility of SPQ in cross-cultural research. We discuss theoretical and clinical implications of our results for diagnostic systems, psychosis models and cross-national mental health strategies.

Keywords

Factorial validityPsychosis riskpsychosisschizotypal personalityschizotypySPQ
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 48 , Issue 3 , February 2018 , pp. 451 - 462
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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