Quality of life across the schizotypy spectrum: findings from a large nonclinical adult sample

Abstract

Objective It is well documented that patients with schizophrenia have impoverished quality of life (QOL). Efforts to determine the underpinnings of this impoverishment have implicated negative symptoms more than positive or disorganized symptoms. However, only a minority of individuals with the liability to schizophrenia will ever show manifest illness, and it is presently unclear the degree to which QOL is affected in individuals with subclinical symptoms of the disorder (ie, schizotypy). The present study examined the relative contributions of negative, positive, and disorganized schizotypy symptoms to QOL. Methods Measures of schizotypal symptoms and subjective and objective QOL were obtained from a sample of 1395 adults. Results Measures of schizotypal symptoms significantly corresponded to all measures of QOL, although the magnitude of correlations were significantly larger for subjective than objective measures. The negative symptom dimension explained a substantial portion of unique variance in the social domains of QOL above and beyond that accounted for by the other schizotypy dimensions. Conclusions These findings highlight the deleterious impact of schizotypal symptoms, particularly negative symptoms. Further research clarifying the mechanism underlying this relationship is called for.