Psychotic experiences and hyper-theory-of-mind in preadolescence--a birth cohort study

Area of Science:

• Developmental psychology
• Psychiatry
• Child and adolescent mental health

Background:

• Limited understanding of risk mechanisms for psychotic experiences (PE).
• Need to identify specific developmental markers for PE.
• Focus on hyper-theory-of-mind (HyperToM) as a potential correlate.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore developmental markers of PE in a population-based cohort.
• To investigate the specificity of HyperToM as a correlate of PE.
• To differentiate PE correlates from those of any mental disorder.

Main Methods:

• Assessed 1630 children (Copenhagen Child Cohort 2000) for PE and HyperToM at 11-12 years.
• Diagnosed mental disorders using standardized parent, teacher, and self-reported psychopathology.
• Employed logistic regression to analyze correlates and their specificity.

Main Results:

• Univariate analysis identified familial psychiatric liability, parental mental illness, family changes, low income, regulatory problems, puberty onset, bullying, concurrent mental disorder, and HyperToM as PE correlates.
• Adjusted analyses revealed low family income, concurrent mental disorder, bullying, and HyperToM remained significant PE correlates.
• HyperToM was the only variable specifically associated with PE, independent of concurrent mental disorder and shared precursors.

Conclusions:

• Hyper-theory-of-mind (HyperToM) plays a specific role in the risk trajectories of psychotic experiences (PE).
• HyperToM is uniquely associated with PE in preadolescent children.
• This association is independent of other family and child risk factors for PE and general psychopathology.