اسکیزوتایپی و بهزیستی ذهنی در دانشجویان دانشگاه

Abstract One hundred and thirty-nine university students completed measures of schizotypy and subjective well-being (SWB). Inverse associations were found between schizotypy and SWB scores. These results provide evidence that diminished SWB is characteristic along the schizophrenia continuum. Further research is required to determine the mechanisms by which schizotypal individuals experience reduced life satisfaction.

. Introduction Diminished quality of life is well established in schizophrenia (Kasckow et al., 2001, Pinikahana et al., 2002 and Pukrop et al., 2003), and it appears that those with this illness may experience lower subjective well-being (SWB) than non-affected individuals (Awadalla et al., 2005, Kurs et al., 2005, Cheng-Fang et al., 2008 and Uzenoff et al., 2010). However, it may be useful to examine the prevalence of diminished well-being across the psychosis spectrum, particularly in those with symptoms at the sub-clinical level who lack possible confounds to their well-being such as medication, hospitalisation, and severity of illness. Continuum theories of psychosis (Crow, 1990 and Claridge, 1994) posit that it may be considered along a dynamic scale, where schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders are placed at the extreme end, schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) in the intermediate range, and schizotypy at the mild non-psychotic end of the spectrum. Non-clinical individuals high on psychometrically measured schizotypy are found to share many of the social, neurocognitive, and social cognitive impairments of schizophrenia sufferers (Park and McTigue, 1997 and Aguirre et al., 2008), though to a lesser extent. Furthermore, schizotypal features as measured by one prominent scale, the Schizotypy Personality Questionnaire (Raine, 1991), have been found to converge into three factors analogous to the three syndromes of schizophrenia (Liddle, 1987) — cognitive-perceptual (positive), interpersonal (negative), and disorganisation (Raine et al., 1994). The well-being of schizotypal individuals and those with SPD has not been the focus of a great deal of research. However, there are a select number of studies suggesting that these groups do have a lower quality of life. For example, individuals diagnosed with SPD have been found to have lower objective and subjective well-being compared to controls and other personality disorder groups (Chen et al., 2006 and Cramer et al., 2006). Scarce research to date has looked at associations between schizotypy and SWB, though one study has found higher schizotypy predicts lower objective and subjective well-being (Cohen and Davis, 2009). Notably, SWB scores tended to be most strongly associated with the interpersonal factor of schizotypy. In light of the well-established finding of lower well-being in schizophrenia, and apparent reduction in SPD, we sought to investigate the relationship between schizotypy and well-being in order to determine whether well-being is similarly diminished in psychologically healthy individuals showing mild schizophrenic-like features. The present study was conducted in an attempt to replicate Cohen and Davis' findings using the Personal Well-being Index (International Well-being Group, 2006), a well-validated and extensively used measure of SWB, in an Australian university sample. Accordingly, it was hypothesised that schizotypy scores would be associated with reduced SWB, and furthermore that the interpersonal factor would be more strongly associated with SWB than the other two schizotypal factors.

3. Results The mean (standard deviation) SPQ total score was 117.1 (42.8), while means for the cognitive-perceptual, interpersonal, and disorganised factors were 51.0 (21.3), 50.9 (22.5), and 27.9 (12.4), respectively. The mean PWI score was 68.6 (13.9) out of 100, while means for the eight domains ranged from 63.6 to 78.9. Table 1 presents associations between the PWI and SPQ scores. Significant associations were found between PWI and all four SPQ scores, and between SPQ-total and all PWI domains apart from 'Satisfaction with spirituality or religion'. Furthermore, the vast majority of associations between the SPQ factors and PWI domains were significant. SPQ-CP was not significantly associated with the PWI domains ‘Satisfaction with standard of living’, ‘Satisfaction with health’, and ‘Satisfaction with what you are achieving in life’, and SPQ-DIS was not associated with ‘Satisfaction with standard of living’ (P > 0.005). None of the SPQ factors was significantly associated with ‘Satisfaction with spirituality or religion’. All associations were in the negative direction, such that higher SPQ factor scores predicted lower PWI scores. Table 1. Associations between SPQ and PWI scores. PWI PWI-LIV PWI-HEA PWI-ACH PWI-REL PWI-SAF PWI-COM PWI-SEC PWI-SPI SPQ-tot − 0.53⁎⁎ − 0.28⁎ − 0.30⁎⁎ − 0.40⁎⁎ − 0.41⁎⁎ − 0.47⁎⁎ − 0.49⁎⁎ − 0.39⁎⁎ − 0.18 SPQ-CP − 0.38⁎⁎ − 0.19 − 0.19 − 0.22 − 0.25⁎ − 0.37⁎⁎ − 0.37⁎⁎ − 0.33⁎⁎ − 0.15 SPQ-INT − 0.58⁎⁎ − 0.31⁎⁎ − 0.28⁎ − 0.47⁎⁎ − 0.51⁎⁎ − 0.50⁎⁎ − 0.49⁎⁎ − 0.38⁎⁎ − 0.23 SPQ-DIS − 0.42⁎⁎ − 0.19 − 0.30⁎⁎ − 0.35⁎⁎ − 0.30⁎⁎ − 0.34⁎⁎ − 0.42⁎⁎ − 0.30⁎⁎ − 0.07 Note: SPQ-tot = SPQ total; SPQ-CP = SPQ Cognitive-perceptual; SPQ-INT = SPQ Interpersonal; SPQ-DIS = SPQ Disorganisation; PWI = PWI score; PWI-LIV = Satisfaction with standard of living; PWI-HEA = Satisfaction with health; PWI-ACH = Satisfaction with what you are achieving in life; PWI-REL = Satisfaction with personal relationships; PWI-SAF = Satisfaction with how safe you feel; PWI-COM = Satisfaction with feeling part of the community; PWI-SEC = Satisfaction with future security; PWI-SPI = Satisfaction with spirituality or religion. ⁎ P < 0.005. ⁎⁎ P < 0.0005. Table options Fisher r to z transformations revealed that SPQ-INT was significantly more strongly associated with PWI than was SPQ-CP (P = 0.031). Similarly, the association between SPQ-INT and PWI domain ‘Satisfaction with what you are achieving in life’ was significantly stronger than between SPQ-CP and this domain (P = 0.018). SPQ-INT was also significantly more strongly associated with PWI domain ‘Satisfaction with personal relationships’ than were either were SPQ-CP (P = 0.011) and SPQ-DIS (P = 0.037). No significant differences were found between SPQ-INT and SPQ-DIS, or SPQ-CP and SPQ-DIS, in terms of their strength of associations with the remaining PWI domains. These findings indicate that schizotypy is associated with lowered SWB and satisfaction with a variety of life domains, and that these relationships are most powerfully driven by the interpersonal deficits found in schizotypy. A standard multiple regression containing the nine SPQ subscales significantly predicted PWI, explaining 40% of the variance, F(9,29) = 9.475, P < 0.0005. Of the subscales, only three (Ideas of reference, Paranoia, and No close friends) were significantly associated with PWI. The Paranoia (β = − 0.30, P = 0.016), and No close friends (β = − 0.38, P = 0.010) subscales were negatively associated with PWI, such that being suspicious of others and having few close friends predicted lower SWB. In contrast, Ideas of reference (β = 0.23, P = 0.048) was positively associated with PWI, such that a tendency to have strange ideas of reference predicted higher SWB.