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Schizotypy and mental health in the general population: A pilot study
Author(s) -
Goulding Anneli,
Ödéhn Nils
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
personality and mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.193
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1932-863X
pISSN - 1932-8621
DOI - 10.1002/pmh.86
Subject(s) - schizotypy , psychopathology , psychology , mental health , schizotypal personality disorder , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , clinical psychology , population , psychosis , psychiatry , developmental psychology , medicine , environmental health
An understanding of schizotypy and its relation to mental health has several important implications for the prevention, treatment and understanding of psychosis‐spectrum disorders. Previous studies have shown the possibility that schizotypy is associated to mental health as well as psychopathology. This pilot study investigated the relation between schizotypy and mental health in a random sample from the general Swedish population (n = 91). A simultaneous multiple regression analysis with schizotypy factors as predictors of mental health showed that disorganized and positive schizotypy were significant predictors of mental health. Both factors had a linear negative relation to mental health, but positive schizotypy also had a curvilinear relation so that both high and low levels of positive schizotypy were associated with mental health. Cluster analyses indicated the presence of four schizotypy profile groups characterized by high positive schizotypy, high negative schizotypy, high disorganized schizotypy and low schizotypy respectively. The low schizotypy group had significantly better mental health compared to the disorganized schizotypy group. The disorganized schizotypy factor was the only factor clearly associated with mental ill health. These results indicate the presence of schizotypal traits in the general population and also questions schizotypy models that view schizotypal traits as necessarily associated with psychopathology. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.