[Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief - Likert format: Factor structure analysis in general population in...

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Psychometrics
• Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders

Background:

• Schizotypal traits are crucial for understanding schizophrenia's etiology and pathophysiology.
• Consistent self-report tools are needed to measure psychometric schizotypy in the general population.
• The Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief (SPQ-B) in a Likert format allows for nuanced responses, reducing defensive answering.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the factorial structure of the French version of the SPQ-B using a Likert scale.
• To analyze differences in schizotypy dimensional scores based on gender and age.
• To validate a psychometric tool for assessing schizotypal traits in a representative adult sample.

Main Methods:

• A representative sample of 233 adults from an urban area near Paris completed the French SPQ-B with a 5-point Likert scale.
• Principal Components Analysis (PCA) with promax rotation was used to examine the dimensional structure.
• Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha, and linear regression analyzed age and gender influences.

Main Results:

• Factor analysis yielded a three-factor solution (disorganized, interpersonal, cognitive-perceptual) explaining 47.7% of the variance.
• Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) for the subscales and total scale ranged from 0.77 to 0.88.
• No significant differences in total schizotypy or dimensional scores were found based on age or gender.

Conclusions:

• The French SPQ-B in Likert format confirmed a three-factor structure of schizotypy, including a distinct cognitive-perceptual dimension.
• "Suspiciousness" loaded onto both positive and negative dimensions, while "social anxiety" unexpectedly loaded onto the disorganized dimension.
• The SPQ-B demonstrated good internal reliability, and unlike prior studies, no age or gender influences on schizotypal dimensions were observed.