Brief assessment of schizotypal traits: A multinational study

Fonseca-Pedrero, E.; Ortuno-Sierra, J.; Lucas-Molina, B.; Debbane, M.; Chan, R. C. K.; Cicero, D. C.; Zhang, L. C.; Brenner, C.; Barkus, E.; Linscott, R. J.; Kwapil, T.; Barrantes-Vidal, N.; Cohen, A.; Raine, A.; Compton, M. T.; Tone, E. B.; Suhr, J.; Bobes, J.; Fumero, A.; Giakoumaki, S.; Tsaousis, I.; Preti, A.; Chmielewski, M.; Laloyaux, J.; Mechri, A.; Lahmar, M. A.; Wuthrich, V.; Laroi, F.; Badcock, J. C.; Jablensky, A.; Barron, D.; Swami, V.; Tran, U. S.; Voracek, M.

doi:10.1016/j.schres.2017.10.043

The Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief (SPQ-B) was developed with the aim of examining variations in healthy trait schizotypy, as well as latent vulnerability to psychotic-spectrum disorders. No previous study has studied the cross-cultural validity of the SPQ-B in a large cross-national sample. The main goal of the present study was to analyze the reliability and the internal structure of SPQ-B scores in a multinational sample of 28,426 participants recruited from 14 countries. The mean age was 22.63 years (SD = 7.08; range 16–68 years), 37.7% (n = 10,711) were men. The omega coefficients were high, ranging from 0.86 to 0.92 for the total sample. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that SPQ-B items were grouped either in a theoretical structure of three first-order factors (Cognitive-Perceptual, Interpersonal, and Disorganized) or in a bifactor model (three first-order factors plus a general factor of schizotypal personality). In addition, the results supported configural but not strong measurement invariance of SPQ-B scores across samples. These findings provide new information about the factor structure of schizotypal personality, and support the validity and utility of the SPQ-B, a brief and easy tool for assessing self-reported schizotypal traits, in cross-national research. Theoretical and clinical implications for diagnostic systems, psychosis models, and cross-national mental health strategies are derived from these results.