posted on 2023-08-30, 14:58authored byEduardo Fonseca-Pedrero, Javier Ortuño-Sierra, Beatriz Lucas-Molina, Martin Debbané, Raymond C.K. Chan, David C. Cicero, Lisa C. Zhang, Colleen Brenner, Emma Barkus, Richard J. Linscott, Thomas Kwapil, Neus Barrantes-Vidal, Alex Cohen, Adrian Raine, Michael T. Compton, Erin B. Tone, Julie Suhr, Julio Bobes, Axit Fumero, Stella Giakoumaki, Ioannis Tsaousis, Antonio Preti, Michael Chmielewski, Julien Laloyaux, Anwar Mechri, Mohamed Aymen Lahmar, Viviana Wuthrich, Frank Larøi, Johanna C. Badcock, Assen Jablensky, David Barron, Viren Swami, Ulrich S. Tran, Martin Voracek
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.