Odd and disorganized–Comparing the factor structure of the three major schizotypy inventories

Abstract

Schizotypy is a personality-framework currently considered a comprehensive and useful construct in schizophrenia research and becoming ever more accepted within psychiatry. Thus, it is crucial to obtain a unifying and generally accepted means of its measuring. The three most commonly used psychometric schizotypy inventories, the Wisconsin Schizotypy Scales, Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire and Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences were, however, built upon different theoretical schizotypy models, wherefore comparing results from studies that have used different inventories is difficult and sometimes questionable. Therefore, an analysis of all three inventories was conducted within the same sample of 327 healthy participants to illustrate the similarities and differences in factor structures. Results showed that findings are likely dependent on the used assessment instrument. A following item-level factor analysis was conducted to investigate the shared structure of all three inventories, in order to illustrate a framework interpretable as “common ground” between measures. This adjusted four-factor structure may be used to better aid comparisons between schizotypy-studies having used different inventories. At least, our findings illustrate the necessity of viewing individual results before the background of the theoretical framework of the respective measurement tool.