Differential Item Functioning of the Full and Brief Wisconsin Schizotypy Scales in Asian, White, Hispanic, and Multiethnic Samples and Between Sexes

Examining measures of schizotypy for gender and racial bias using item response theory and differential item functioning

Schizotypy involves schizophrenia-like traits and symptoms, with the Wisconsin Schizotypy Scales (WSS) being frequently used in previous research. There is some evidence that schizophrenia-spectrum symptom levels, including when using the WSS, might vary both by gender and by race and ethnicity. However, previous research has rarely examined to what extent the WSS show gender and racial bias. Further, this has not been previously examined for the Cognitive Slippage Scale, a measure of disorganized schizotypy. In this study, we examined biases for a subset of items from the WSS in a large sample of undergraduate students (n = 21,829). Using item response theory to test for levels of differential item functioning (DIF), we found some evidence of problematic DIF for all scales, including for negative, positive, and disorganized schizotypy scales. There was evidence of problematic DIF especially by gender and for Black and Multiracial participants. Overall, the current results suggest that gender and/or racial bias on these scales should be an important consideration in using these scales and our results could have implications for assessment of schizophrenia-spectrum symptoms.

Differential Performance of Social Communication Questionnaire Items in African American/Black vs. White Children

Screening for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an essential early step in the identification process and inaccurate screening may lead to significant delays in the onset of treatment. Past research has highlighted discrepancies in the performance of ASD screening tools such as the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ) among certain racial and ethnic groups. The current study explored the functioning of the SCQ among African American/Black and White respondents based on item level performance on the measure. Differential Item Functioning (DIF) analyses showed that 16 (41%) items of the SCQ functioned differently for African American/Black respondents when compared to White respondents. Implications, such as the potential for delayed diagnosis and treatment, and the influence on downstream outcomes, are discussed.

Social Anhedonia and Intergroup Processes: A Multi-Study Investigation of Known and Novel Group Memberships

Introduction: Group memberships play an important role in promoting psychological well-being and supporting social functioning. However, studies suggest that individuals with social anhedonia, a characteristic defined by limited pleasure from social bonds, may show abnormalities in their desire to cultivate positive feelings, such as belongingness, from social groups. Still, these abnormalities have not been studied in the context of intergroup processes, leaving the relation between social anhedonia and subjective evaluations of group memberships unclear. Methods: Across three studies (Ns = 124-659), we examined associations between social anhedonia and affective and cognitive attitudes about different types of ingroups and outgroups using self-report and behavioral measures. Results: Taken together, results indicate that social anhedonia is associated with less positive and more negative feelings and beliefs about most ingroups and outgroups from everyday life, as well as negatively biased stereotyping of many prominent social groups. At the same time, individuals with either extremely high or low levels of social anhedonia did not report significantly different intergroup attitudes when group memberships were experimentally manipulated in a minimal group setting. Discussion: Overall, these findings suggest that social anhedonia is associated with less positive and more negative subjective evaluations of long-established, real-world ingroups, but not of a newly formed ingroup that requires little motivation or social engagement to maintain group membership. Aberrant feelings and attitudes toward one's ingroups are consistent with the theory that social anhedonia is related to anomalies in the need to belong within social groups from everyday life and could inform psychosocial interventions for related psychopathologies.

Comparing psychotic experiences in low-and-middle-income-countries and high-income-countries with a focus on measurement invariance

BACKGROUND

The prevalence of psychotic experiences (PEs) is higher in low-and-middle-income-countries (LAMIC) than in high-income countries (HIC). Here, we examine whether this effect is explicable by measurement bias.

METHODS

A community sample from 13 countries (N = 7141) was used to examine the measurement invariance (MI) of a frequently used self-report measure of PEs, the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE), in LAMIC (n = 2472) and HIC (n = 4669). The CAPE measures positive (e.g. hallucinations), negative (e.g. avolition) and depressive symptoms. MI analyses were conducted with multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses.

RESULTS

MI analyses showed similarities in the structure and understanding of the CAPE factors between LAMIC and HIC. Partial scalar invariance was found, allowing for latent score comparisons. Residual invariance was not found, indicating that sum score comparisons are biased. A comparison of latent scores before and after MI adjustment showed both overestimation (e.g. avolition, d = 0.03 into d = -0.42) and underestimation (e.g. magical thinking, d = -0.03 into d = 0.33) of PE in LAMIC relative to HIC. After adjusting the CAPE for MI, participants from LAMIC reported significantly higher levels on most CAPE factors but a significantly lower level of avolition.

CONCLUSION

Previous studies using sum scores to compare differences across countries are likely to be biased. The direction of the bias involves both over- and underestimation of PEs in LAMIC compared to HIC. Nevertheless, the study confirms the basic finding that PEs are more frequent in LAMIC than in HIC.

Shared and unique affective abnormalities in schizotypy dimensions

Attention to affect is theoretically a precursor to one's ideal affect (i.e., preference for feeling low- and high-arousal positive and negative affect) and emotion regulation (ER). In schizotypy, there have been mixed findings regarding abnormalities in attention to affect. At the same time, little is known about ideal affect in schizotypy or whether differences in ideal affect or ER difficulties in schizotypy are driven by attention to affect. Thus, this study aimed to identify shared and unique abnormalities in attention to affect, ideal affect, and ER difficulties in schizotypy, and to test whether attention to affect underlies differences in ideal affect and ER difficulties. Using groups of individuals with either extreme levels of social anhedonia (SocAnh; n = 181), extreme levels of perceptual aberrations/magical ideation (PerMag; n = 105), or individuals low on both (i.e., controls; n = 531), we tested group differences in attention to affect, ideal affect, and ER difficulties. Our findings suggest both shared and unique affective abnormalities; compared to controls, the SocAnh group paid the least attention to positive affect. Only PerMag had heightened attention to negative affect compared to controls. Additionally, we found unique abnormalities relating to ideal affect but mostly shared difficulties in ER in schizotypy. Abnormalities in ideal affect and ER remain largely consistent after accounting for attention to affect for PerMag, suggesting that attention to affect is not the primary mechanism driving these abnormalities. However, we found evidence that attention to affect underlies some SocAnh-control group differences in ideal affect and ER difficulties. Our work helps to clarify prior work and contributes to the understanding of shared and unique affective abnormalities in schizotypy. Future research may consider longitudinal approaches to test causal mechanisms of affective abnormalities in schizotypy.

Shame in Response to Affective Expression and Its Relation to Social Anhedonia and Schizotypy Traits

ABSTRACT

Schizotypy is marked by negative symptoms including blunted affect, social isolation, and social anhedonia. Contemporary personality theory suggests that maladaptive shame regulation may disrupt interpersonal function across personality disorders. We hypothesized that "affect shame"-a conditioned response of shame evoked by openly expressing emotions would co-occur with interpersonal deficits in schizotypy. As hypothesized, affect shame was associated with interpersonal deficits (r = 0.17, p < 0.001), physical anhedonia (r = 0.13, p = 0.001), and social anhedonia (r = 0.17, p = 0.001). The observed findings were upheld in analyses controlling for demographic characteristics, depression symptom severity, and neuroticism and were maintained consistently across sensitivity analyses. Findings suggest that shame related to emotional expression is related to interpersonal deficits in schizotypy and have implications for our understanding of the etiology and treatment of this disorder.

What you want may not be what you like: A test of the aberrant salience hypothesis in schizophrenia risk

Motivational abnormalities represent a key area of dysfunction in individuals with, or at risk for, schizophrenia and severely limit broad domains of functioning in these populations. The aberrant salience hypothesis posits that motivational abnormalities are the result of an over-attribution of salience to nonpleasurable stimuli but an under-attribution of salience to pleasurable ones. Consequently, people "want" what they do not "like" but do not "want" what they "like." However, it is unclear how this hypothesis manifests in schizophrenia risk beyond monetary rewards. The current research provided a multimodal investigation of the aberrant salience hypothesis in people with elevated psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) who are at risk for developing psychosis. Study 1 examined the link between liking and incentive salience using a neurobiological indicator of incentive salience (contingent negative variation/CNV) in 23 PLEs and 21 Control participants. The PLEs group showed diminished CNV reactivity to pleasant (vs. neutral) social images, which was driven by an augmented response to neutral stimuli. Study 2 examined liking, incentive salience, and conscious wanting experience using a psychological indicator of incentive salience (positive spontaneous thoughts/PSTs) in 38 PLEs and 246 Control participants. The PLEs group showed diminished correspondence between liking, PSTs, and conscious wanting across diverse reward contexts. Collectively, individuals with PLEs over-attribute salience to neutral stimuli and, to a lesser degree, under-attribute salience to rewards. Findings of the current research support abnormal salience attribution as a trait-like feature implicated in the pathophysiology and development of schizophrenia and provide valuable insights on research and treatment of this illness.

Schizotypy dimensions are associated with altered resting state alpha connectivity

The disconnection hypothesis of schizophrenia says that symptoms are explained by dysfunctional connections across a wide range of brain networks. Despite some support for this hypothesis, there have been mixed findings. One reason for these may be the multidimensional nature of schizophrenia symptoms. In order to clarify the relationship between symptoms and brain networks, the current study included individuals at risk for schizophrenia-spectrum disorders who either report extreme levels of positive schizotypy traits (perceptual aberrations and magical ideation, or "PerMag"; n = 23), or an extreme negative schizotypy trait (social anhedonia, or "SocAnh"; n = 19), as well as a control group (n = 18). Resting-state alpha electroencephalography was collected, and functional networks for each subject were measured using the phase-lag index to calculate the connectivity between channel pairs based on the symmetry of instantaneous phase differences over time. Furthermore, graph theory measures were introduced to identify network features exclusive to schizotypy groups. We found that the PerMag group exhibited a smaller difference in node strength and clustering coefficient in frontal/occipital and central/occipital regional comparisons compared to controls, suggesting a more widespread network. The SocAnh group exhibited a larger difference in degree in the central/occipital regional comparison relative to controls, suggesting a localized occipital focus in the connectivity network. Regional differences in functional connectivity suggest that different schizotypy dimensions are manifested at the network level by different forms of disconnections. Taken together, these findings lend further support to the disconnection hypothesis and suggest that altered connectivity networks may serve as a potential biomarker for schizophrenia risk.

Electrophysiological responses to images ranging in motivational salience: Attentional abnormalities associated with schizophrenia-spectrum disorder risk

Individuals at risk for schizophrenia-spectrum disorders display abnormalities related to motivational salience, or the ability of stimuli to elicit attention due to associations with rewards or punishments. However, the nature of these abnormalities is unclear because most focus on responses to stimuli from broad “pleasant” and “unpleasant” categories and ignore the variation of motivational salience within these categories. In two groups at risk for schizophrenia-spectrum disorders—a Social Anhedonia group and a Psychotic-like Experiences group—and a control group, the current study examined event-related potential components sensitive to motivational salience—the Early Posterior Negativity (EPN), reflecting earlier selective attention, and the Late Positive Potential (LPP), reflecting sustained attention. Compared to controls, the Social Anhedonia group showed smaller increases in the EPN in response to erotica and smaller increases in the LPP as the motivational salience of pleasant images increased (exciting<affiliative<erotica). In contrast, the Psychotic-like Experiences group had larger increases in LPP amplitudes as the motivational salience of pleasant images increased. Also, both at-risk groups showed larger increases in the LPP to threatening images but smaller increases to mutilation images. These findings suggest that examining abnormalities beyond those associated with broad categories may be a way to identify mechanisms of dysfunction.

Differential emotional abnormalities among schizotypy clusters

Schizotypy, a multidimensional personality organization that reflects liability to develop schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, has been associated with a number of emotional abnormalities. Yet, the exact nature of any emotional abnormalities in schizotypy is relatively unclear. Using an ethnically diverse nonclinical sample (N = 2637), the present study identified homogenous clusters of individuals based on positive and negative schizotypy dimensions and explored three interrelated domains of emotion traits closely tied to functional outcomes and quality of life: affective experience, emotional awareness, and meta-level emotions. Consistent with prior research, four schizotypy clusters were obtained: low ("nonschizotypic"), high positive, high negative, and mixed (high positive and high negative). Regarding emotion correlates of schizotypy clusters, the mixed cluster was found to be the most deviant on almost all emotion traits (e.g., heightened trait negative affect, diminished emotional clarity), suggesting that the effects of positive and negative schizotypy are additive. In addition, positive and negative schizotypy clusters were associated with differential abnormalities, with the negative cluster presenting a wider range of, and more severe, impairments compared to the low cluster (e.g., reduced trait positive affect and reduced attention to positive emotion). The current study highlights the heterogeneity in emotional traits among schizotypy dimensions and the importance of studying the mixed schizotypy in terms of emotional dysfunction.

Emotional response in schizophrenia to the "36 questions that lead to love": Predicted and experienced emotions regarding a live social interaction

Evidence suggests that individuals with schizophrenia (SZ) report anticipatory pleasure deficits compared to controls and that these deficits are linked to decreased motivation to engage socially. However, these deficits have been identified via self-report measures of hypothetical pleasant stimuli, leaving it unclear whether they exist in reference to actual social situations. To address this issue, we created a live social interaction that minimized the reliance of higher-order cognitive processes. SZ and control participants were told that they would be playing an "enjoyable sharing game" with another study participant (who was actually a confederate) that involved asking and answering questions (36 interpersonal closeness generation questions; Aron et al., 1997). Participants then reported their current mood and the emotions they anticipated experiencing during the pleasant social interaction. Immediately following the interaction, they reported their experienced emotions. We found that the SZ group anticipated more negative emotion (d = 1.0), but were less accurate in forecasting negative emotion (d = .81), than controls, and these effects were large. There were small, non-significant group differences in anticipation, experience, and accuracy in forecasting of positive emotion (all ds < .29). Also, social anhedonia was positively correlated with anticipated negative affect and negatively associated with experienced positive emotion. At the same time, controls reported finding the interaction to be a more positive emotional experience overall, d = 0.75. This is the first study to show that "anticipatory pleasure deficits" in SZ might actually be heightened anticipated negative emotion and that inaccurate forecasting could be linked to decreased social motivation.