The Italian Certainty About Mental States Questionnaire: Validation and Links to Schizotypy and Psychoticism

Mentalization deficits have been linked to schizotypy, a multidimensional construct indexing liability to schizophrenia-spectrum psychopathology. Traditional self-report measures often fail to capture the full breadth of mentalizing content. We validated the Italian version of the Certainty About Mental States Questionnaire (CAMSQ), which assesses perceived mentalizing about the self and others across feelings, thoughts, motives, and intentions. In a community sample (N = 496), we tested factor structure, internal consistency, measurement invariance across binary gender groups, and convergent validity, supporting the expected psychometric model. We then examined associations between CAMSQ scores, psychoticism, and schizotypy indicators (cognitive-perceptual, interpersonal, and disorganization). Higher psychoticism and some schizotypal features, particularly disorganization, were associated with lower Self-Certainty coupled with higher Other-Certainty, suggesting an imbalance in perceived access to one's own versus others' mental states. Findings provide preliminary evidence that perceived mentalizing relates systematically to schizotypy in nonclinical samples and support the CAMSQ as a useful tool for assessing self-perceived mentalizing capacities. Implications for assessment research are discussed.