Confirmation of a four-factor structure of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire among undergraduate students

• Published in: Schizophrenia research 2009-06, Vol.111 (1), p.46-52
• Main Authors: Compton, Michael T, Goulding, Sandra M, Bakeman, Roger, McClure-Tone, Erin B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Anomie; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition - physiology; Confirmatory factor analysis; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Female; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Paranoid Disorders - physiopathology; Perception - physiology; Perceptual Aberration Scale; Personality disorders; Personality Inventory - statistics & numerical data; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometric properties; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Reference Values; Revised Social Anhedonia Scale; Schizotypal Personality Disorder - diagnosis; Schizotypal Personality Disorder - psychology; Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire; Schizotypy; Students - psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0920-9964; 1573-2509
• DOI: 10.1016/j.schres.2009.02.012

Abstract Objective Although several exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses have supported the initially proposed factor structure of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) in which its nine subscales are grouped into cognitive–perceptual , interpersonal , and disorganized domains, others have revealed different latent structures. This study determined the best-fitting factor structure from among five models that have been proposed in the literature, as well as five additional hierarchically related models. Methods Undergraduate college students ( n = 825) completed the SPQ as well as the Perceptual Aberration Scale (PAS) and the Revised Social Anhedonia Scale (SAS). Confirmatory factor analyses involving the nine SPQ subscales were conducted using the Linear Structural Relations Program ( LISREL 8.72 ). Results The best fitting model was a previously described 4-factor model including cognitive–perceptual , paranoid , negative , and disorganized domains. Correlations between the derived SPQ domains and the PAS score ranged r = .26–.39, and correlations between the SPQ domains and the SAS ranged r = .07–.41. Conclusions The present findings support a 4-factor model over the standard 3-factor model that is typically used to derive SPQ subscale scores. The four derived domains are minimally to moderately correlated with other measures of psychosis-proneness.