Association of positive, negative, and disorganized schizotypy dimensions with affective symptoms and experiences

Abstract

Schizotypy offers a useful construct for investigating the etiology, development, and expression of schizophrenia-spectrum psychopathology, as well as the comorbid expression of mood and anxiety disorders across the schizophrenia spectrum. The present study examined the associations of positive, negative, and disorganized schizotypy with affective symptoms and experiences in a sample of MTurk workers and college students (n = 575). Participants completed the Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale (MSS) and measures of depression, anxiety, social phobia, hypomanic traits, and state affect. As expected, positive schizotypy was significantly associated with hypomanic traits, whereas negative schizotypy was associated with reduced positive affect and reduced hypomanic traits. Although prior research has emphasized the association of positive schizotypy with depression and anxiety, the current results demonstrate that disorganized schizotypy is more strongly associated with elevated negative affect (over-and-above positive schizotypy). As such, these findings highlight the importance of examining disorganization of affect, in addition to the cognitive-behavioral deficits traditionally associated with disorganized schizotypy. Finally, the MSS and MSS-Brief demonstrated closely comparable findings. The present results provide further support for the construct validity of the MSS and the three-factor model of schizotypy.