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Scientific article
English

Cognitive and emotional associations to positive schizotypy during adolescence

Contributors

Debbané, Martin; Van der Linden, Martial; Gex-Fabry, Marianne; Eliez, Stéphan

Published in

Journal of child psychology and psychiatry and allied disciplines, vol. 50, no. 3, p. 326-334

Publication date

2009

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Sub-clinical symptoms of psychosis such as hallucinations and delusions, known as positive schizotypy, constitute one of the strongest predictive factors for adult psychotic disorders. Recent cognitive models suggest that the expression of positive schizotypy is associated with depression, anxiety, metacognitive beliefs and self-monitoring deficits. In this study, we present empirical data on the relationships positive schizotypy hold with both emotional and cognitive factors. METHODS: A sample of 163 adolescents (77 females) participated in this study (mean age 15.3, 12-18 years). Subjects filled out self-report questionnaires assessing the emotional dimensions of depression and anxiety, as well as metacognitive beliefs. Self-monitoring skills were assessed using an action monitoring paradigm sensitive to dysfunctions associated with psychosis-proneness. Multivariate regression models were employed to examine emotional and cognitive contributions to positive schizotypy during adolescence. RESULTS: Analyses revealed that dimensions of depression, anxiety, and metacognitive beliefs significantly correlated with the expression of positive schizotypy. When accounting for the effects of depression and metacognitive beliefs in adolescents reporting hallucinations, self-monitoring dysfunctions seemed to represent a significant factor in the expression of positive schizotypy. CONCLUSION: The present results suggest that the expression of positive schizotypy during adolescence is modulated by emotional factors of depression and anxiety, as well as metacognitive beliefs and self-monitoring dysfunctions. The current data lend some evidence that supports the cognitive-developmental account of positive symptom formation before the onset of a psychotic disorder.

Keywords

  • Adolescent
  • Child
  • Cognition Disorders/diagnosis/epidemiology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mood Disorders/diagnosis/epidemiology
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Schizotypal Personality Disorder/epidemiology
  • Severity of Illness Index

UNIGE affiliation entities

UNIGE research groups

Citation (ISO format)

DEBBANÉ, Martin et al. Cognitive and emotional associations to positive schizotypy during adolescence. In: Journal of child psychology and psychiatry and allied disciplines, 2009, vol. 50, n° 3, p. 326–334. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.01961.x

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Article (Published version)

Identifiers

Journal ISSN

0021-9630
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Technical informations

Creation

05/03/2010 11:06:00

First validation

05/03/2010 11:06:00

Update

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