Association of multidimensional schizotypy with psychotic-like experiences, affect, and social functioning in daily life: Comparable findings across samples and schizotypy measures

The present study examined the associations of positive, negative, and disorganized schizotypy with psychotic-like experiences, affect, and social functioning in daily life using experience sampling methodology (ESM) in 2 samples (ns = 165 and 203) that employed different measures of schizotypy. Schizotypy is a useful framework for understanding schizophrenia-spectrum psychopathology, and ESM offers a powerful approach for assessing schizotypy in real-world settings. Participants were signaled 8 times daily for 7 days to complete ESM questionnaires. As hypothesized, positive schizotypy was robustly associated with psychotic-like experiences in daily life, whereas negative schizotypy was associated with negative experiences, diminished positive affect, and social disinterest in both samples. As expected, disorganized schizotypy was associated with disorganization in daily life. Furthermore, it was associated with increased negative affect and diminished positive affect. Thus, positive, negative, and disorganized schizotypy were associated with unique, hypothesized patterns of experiences in daily life, and the findings across the two samples and two schizotypy measures were strikingly consistent. Note that when disorganized schizotypy was not entered as a predictor in the 2 samples, disorganized experiences and negative affect in daily life were associated with positive schizotypy. However, when disorganized schizotypy was included as a predictor, these daily life experiences were associated with disorganized, not positive, schizotypy. This is similar to findings from interview and questionnaire studies that have simultaneously assessed positive, negative, and disorganized schizotypy. The findings support the construct validity of the multidimensional model of schizotypy and the importance of including disorganization in the conceptualization and assessment of schizotypy. Schizotypy offers a useful construct for understanding the etiology and development of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. The present study examined the expression of schizotypy in the daily life of young adults. The findings were comparable across two studies, indicating that schizotypy is associated with an array of psychotic-like experiences in real-world environments.