Schizotypal traits and depressive symptoms in nonclinical adolescents

Abstract

The main goal of this study was to examine the relationship between schizotypal personality traits and depressive symptoms in a sample of nonclinical adolescents. The Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief ( J Personal Disord 1995;9:346-355) and the Reynolds Depression Adolescent Scale (Reynolds WM. Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale. Professional Manual. Odessa: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc; 1987) were administered. The sample was made up of 1384 adolescents (48.6% boys), with a mean (SD) age of 15.7 (1.0) years. The results of the study indicate a high degree of overlap between schizotypal experiences and depressive symptoms at a nonclinical level. Canonical correlation between the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief scales and the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale scales was 0.63, which represents 39.69% of the associated variance between the 2 sets of variables. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the 4-dimensional model made up of the Positive, Interpersonal, Disorganized, and Depressive dimensions was that which best fit the data. Moreover, the dimensional structure underlying the schizotypal traits and depressive symptoms was found to be invariant across sex and age. These findings converge with data found in previous studies of both patients with schizophrenia and nonclinical adults and suggest that affective dysregulation is also present at a subclinical level. Future research should continue to make progress in the early detection of participants at risk of developing schizophrenia-spectrum disorders based on the early identification of these types of subclinical traits.