Relationships between schizotypy and subjective experiences in a sample of 399 university students

The high-risk approach based on the definition of schizotypy by Meehl (The American Psychologist 1962;17:827-38) and the basic symptom approach proposed by Huber (Fortschritte für Neurologie und Psychiatrie 1957;25:491-520) share many points in common. In particular, several studies have shown that high scores on psychosis proneness or subjective experiences (SE) scales were associated with the onset of psychotic disorders in nonpsychiatric or nonpsychotic subjects. However, the relationships between the 2 concepts have never been studied experimentally. The present study was therefore designed to investigate the relationships between the scores of the SE scale and several psychosis proneness scales evaluating the negative and positive components of schizotypy in a sample of 399 university students. Data were analyzed using multiple regression and principal components analyses. The results show that SE, as assessed by the Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire, were significantly associated with the positive component of schizotypy but not with the negative component. Subjective experiences could constitute vulnerability traits for psychosis and the Frankfurt Complaint Questionnaire could be use instead of the positive psychosis proneness scales.