Schizotypal Traits in College Students: Association with Empathy and Psychiatric Symptoms

Recent research shows that individuals exhibiting schizotypal traits (ST) are more prone to developing other psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression. Regarding the relationship between empathy and schizotypy, a considerable degree of heterogeneity has been observed. The objective of this study was to describe the presence of ST in college students and the relationships among ST, psychiatric symptoms, and empathy.

The present study employed a non-experimental, cross-sectional correlational design. A total of 70 participants were assessed with a semi-structured interview, the Oviedo Questionnaire for the Assessment of Schizotypy, the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R), and the Cognitive and Affective Empathy Test.

A high prevalence of ST was identified in the study sample (85.8%), particularly regarding Distortion of reality (30%), Negative dimension (47%), and Interpersonal disorganization (70%). A positive correlation was observed between Distortion of reality and Interpersonal disorganization with most of the subscales of the SCL-90-R. A negative correlation was observed between Empathic joy and the Negative dimension of ST (rho (ρ) = -0.504, p = < .001), and a positive correlation between Empathic stress and Obsession-compulsion (ρ = 0.473, p < 0.001), Anxiety (ρ = 0.443, p < 0.001), and Depression (ρ = 0.368, p = 0.002). The results of the multiple linear regressions indicated that ST accounted for 41.8% of the variance in Obsession-compulsion, followed by Depression (33%), and Anxiety (27.2%). In addition, it was found that Empathic stress was a significant predictor of Anxiety (R² = 0.228, p ≤ .001), Obsession-compulsion (R² = 0.168, p ≤ .001), and Depressive symptoms (R² = 0.131, p = 0.002). Finally, it was observed that psychiatric symptoms fully mediated the effect of Empathic stress on Interpersonal disorganization and Distortion of reality.

There were distinctive patterns in which the different dimensions of ST are related to psychiatric symptoms and empathy.