Relationship between schizotypal and borderline traits in college students

The main objective of the present investigation was to analyze the relationship between self-reported schizotypal and borderline personality traits in a sample of 759 college students (M = 19.63 years; SD = 2.03). For this purpose, the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief (SPQ-B; Raine and Benishay, 1995) and Borderline Personality Questionnaire (BPQ; Poreh et al., 2006) were administered. The results showed that schizotypal and borderline features are partially related at subclinical level. The exploratory factor analysis conducted on the subscales revealed a three-factor solution comprised of the following factors: Identity/Interpersonal, Lack of Control and Schizotypal. The canonical correlation analysis showed that schizotypal features and borderline personality traits shared 34.8% of the variance. The data highlight the overlap between schizotypal and borderline personality traits in nonclinical young adults. Future studies should continue to examine the relationship and the degree of overlap between these traits in community samples.     

The relationship between the living arrangements of university students and their identity development

One of the developmental challenges facing the emerging adult is to live independently of his/her family of origin. Research has shown that the living arrangements of late adolescents/young adults also affect aspects of their personal development. This study examined the relationship between university students' living arrangements, their identity development status, the degree of life difficulties experienced, and the manner in which they coped with their difficulties. In general, it was found that those who did not reside in their parents' home had greater levels of problems but also used more direct, problem-focused coping strategies than did those who resided at home. Individuals residing away from their parents were also more likely to have established an adult identity, whereas those who resided with their parents were more likely to be still in the process of developing an adult identity.     

The relationship between the sense of self-agency and schizotypal personality traits

People with schizotypal traits may possess abnormal self-awareness, particularly with regard to their sense of self-agency, that is, the sense that it is oneself who is causing or generating an action. Participants in Experiments 1A (N = 11), 1B (N = 12), and 2 (N = 20) moved a mouse device and viewed resultant feedback, which was biased either temporally or spatially. They then judged whether there was a bias or whether they felt they had moved the cursor on their own. The authors found, for the 1st time, that a sense of self-agency can be experienced even if some degree of temporal bias is perceived. Furthermore, they determined that highly schizotypal people have an abnormal (weaker) sense of self-agency.     

The relationship between obsessive beliefs and symptom dimensions in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Research findings on the specific relationships between beliefs and OCD symptoms have been inconsistent, yet the existing studies vary in their approach to measuring the highly heterogeneous symptoms of this disorder. The Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DOCS) is a new measure that allows for the assessment of OCD symptom dimensions, rather than types of obsessions and compulsions per se. The present study examined the relationship between OCD symptom dimensions and dysfunctional (obsessive) beliefs believed to underlie these symptom dimensions using a large clinical sample of treatment-seeking adults with OCD. Results revealed that certain obsessive beliefs predicted certain OCD symptom dimensions in a manner consistent with cognitive-behavioral conceptual models. Specifically, contamination symptoms were predicted by responsibility/threat estimation beliefs, symmetry symptoms were predicted by perfectionism/certainty beliefs, unacceptable thoughts were predicted by importance/control of thoughts beliefs and symptoms related to being responsible for harm were predicted by responsibility/threat estimation beliefs. Implications for cognitive conceptualizations of OCD symptom dimensions are discussed.     

Positive schizotypal symptoms predict treatment outcome in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Previous research has suggested that the presence of schizotypal personality disorder may represent a risk factor for treatment failure in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Relying on a dimensional approach, the present study investigated whether the predictive importance of schizotypal personality is shared by all of its features to the same extent or whether it is confined to a subset of symptoms. Fifty-three patients underwent multi-modal cognitive-behavioral therapy with or without adjunctive antidepressive medication. Therapy response was defined as a 35% decline of the Y-BOCS total score. At baseline assessment, patients were asked to fill out the schizotypal personality questionnaire, the perceptual aberration scale and the Beck depression inventory. Stepwise regression analysis and group comparisons conducted with the schizotypal and depression scales revealed that elevated scores in the positive schizotypal scales, especially perceptual aberrations, were highly predictive for treatment failure. Responders to treatment and non-responders did not significantly differ on other variables or on scores in two scales which measured response biases. The study provides evidence that positive schizotypal symptoms are antecendents for treatment failure in OCD. It needs to be evaluated whether these at-risk individuals benefit from additional intervention, such as the adminstration of low-dose atypical neuroleptics and specifically tailored behavorial intervention.     

The relationship between miscellaneous symptoms and major symptom factors in obsessive-compulsive disorder

The diverse symptomatology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is being increasingly regarded as reducible to a few symptom dimensions. However, prevailing factor-analytically derived models of symptom structure omit a number of the well-recognized “miscellaneous” symptoms of OCD. This study sought to determine whether miscellaneous OCD symptoms, ascertained by the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale symptom checklist, could be differentially and reliably predicted by four symptom factors (obsessions and checking, symmetry and ordering, contamination and cleaning, and hoarding) in two independent groups of individuals with OCD (n = 381 and n = 107). Logistic regression analyses were used to determine the association of each of the miscellaneous symptoms with the symptom factors; then a single confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test the model of associations in the smaller sample. Sixteen (89%) of the 18 symptoms examined were reliably predicted by one (11 items) or two (5 items) of the factors, with obsessions and checking and symmetry and ordering emerging as foremost predictors. The expanded four-factor model showed good fit with data from the second sample. Results are conceptually meaningful, but suggest the inadequacy of groupings based solely upon overt behaviors. These findings may aid clinical understanding of OCD and be of value to studies using symptom factors to guide investigation of its causes and correlates.     

The relationship of motivation and flow experience to academic procrastination in university students

In this article, the author examined the relationships of motivation and flow experience to academic procrastination in 262 Korean undergraduate students who completed a questionnaire on procrastination, flow, and motivation. The results indicated that high procrastination was associated with lack of self-determined motivation and low incidence of flow state. The results also indicated that, although amotivation and intrinsic motivation showed significant unique effects on procrastination, they did not contribute significantly to the variance in procrastination when the effects caused by flow experiences were considered. The author discusses implications for practice and gives suggestions for further research.     

The relationship between emotion dysregulation and deliberate self-harm among female undergraduate students at an urban commuter university

Despite the theoretical emphasis on the role of emotion dysregulation in deliberate self-harm (DSH), few studies have examined this relationship. The present study sought to examine the role of emotion dysregulation in DSH by extending the findings of Gratz (2006) regarding the environmental (i.e. childhood maltreatment) and individual (i.e. emotional inexpressivity and affect intensity/reactivity) factors associated with DSH among 249 female undergraduates. Specifically, the present study examined whether emotion dysregulation (a) is associated with DSH above and beyond these other risk factors and (b) mediates the relationship between these risk factors and DSH. Findings indicate that overall emotion dysregulation distinguished women with frequent DSH from those without a history of DSH, adding reliably to the prediction of DSH status above and beyond maltreatment, inexpressivity, and affect intensity/reactivity. Moreover, among self-harming women, emotion dysregulation accounted for a significant amount of additional variance in DSH frequency and mediated the relationship between emotional inexpressivity and DSH frequency. Results also suggest the particular relevance of two specific dimensions of emotion dysregulation to DSH: limited access to effective emotion regulation strategies and a lack of emotional clarity, each of which reliably improved the prediction of DSH status and accounted for unique variance in DSH frequency among self-harming women above and beyond the other risk factors in the models. Results suggest the potential utility of teaching self-harming women more adaptive ways of responding to their emotions, including nonavoidant strategies for modulating emotional arousal and the ability to identify, label, and differentiate among emotional states.     

The relationship between inflated personal responsibility and exaggerated danger expectancies in obsessive-compulsive concerns

The association between responsibility for a negative outcome, perceived severity of the outcome and perceived likelihood of the outcome was examined in a sample of 70 undergraduate students. Participants were asked to rate the likelihood and severity of 10 negative outcomes, five related to contamination and five related to checking. Thirty-eight participants completed a version of the questionnaire that presented the subject as responsible for the action that may lead to a negative outcome ('personally responsible' group). The remaining 32 completed a version of the questionnaire that presented someone else performing the actions that may lead to a negative outcome ('other responsible' group). Significant differences emerged between the personally responsible and other responsible groups for severity of outcome ratings but not for likelihood of outcome ratings. Specifically, for both washing and checking concerns, participants in the personally responsible group rated the severity of the potential negative outcome as greater than did those in the other responsible group. The results support the claimed general tendency for individuals to regard an outcome as more aversive if they are personally responsible for that outcome, rather than someone else being responsible. The results suggest that, in general, increasing perceptions of personal responsibility will increase cost or severity estimates in subjective danger calculations, and that responsibility may influence OCD phenomena in this way. Finally, the results suggest that attempts to manipulate responsibility in the laboratory may be confounded by necessarily impacting on cost estimates, and therefore on danger expectancies.     

Processes of inference, schizotypal thinking, and obsessive-compulsive behaviour in a normal sample

Previous research has shown inferential confusion as measured by the Inferential Confusion Questionnaire to be related to obsessive-compulsive symptoms. A total of 108 participants (41 men and 66 women) from a normal population in The Netherlands (M age = 46 yr., SD = 15.5) completed a package of questionnaires measuring inferential confusion, schizotypal symptoms, and obsessive-compulsive behaviour. As expected, scores for both inferential confusion and schizotypal symptoms were significantly related to those for obsessive-compulsive behaviour. In addition, analysis showed that inferential confusion and schizotypal symptoms shared common variance, but both predicted an independent portion of the variance in obsessive-compulsive behaviour while controlling for neuroticism. The present results call for further inquiry into the role of inferential confusion and schizotypal thinking in obsessive-compulsive behaviour.     

Creative thinking abilities and hemispheric asymmetry in schizotypal college students

Two groups of college students that scored high (N=25) and low (N=60) on a schizotypal personality index based on the Perceptual Aberration, Magical Thinking, and Schizotypal Personality Scales, were tested for hemisphericity using a dichotic listening task and completed the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. The schizotypy scales correlated with high scores on the nonverbal portion of the creativity tests and with a left ear preference to dichotically presented verbal stimuli. The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking did not correlate, however, with hemispheric asymmetry. These results clarify the relationship between schizotypy and creating thinking abilities but fail in establishing the role of hemispheric asymmetry in the production of creative thinking ideas. This article is based on a portion of the first author’s dissertation at Wayne State University.     

Relationships between schizotypal features,trait anticipatory and consummatory pleasure,and naturalistic hedonic States

Motivation and Emotion - Deficient anticipatory and preserved consummatory pleasure are hypothesized in schizophrenia-spectrum conditions. However, corresponding findings regarding schizotypy are...     

The representation of borderline,avoidant, obsessive-compulsive,and schizotypal personality disorders by the five-factor model

This study evaluated the accuracy of hypothesized relationships of the five-factor model of personality to four targeted personality disorders in a large multisite sample of patients. Data were gathered from 668 patients, who were assigned to one of five study cells: Borderline, Schizotypal, Avoidant, and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder, and a Major Depression without personality disorder comparison group. Patients were administered a questionnaire designed to assess the domains and facets of the five-factor model and results were compared among diagnostic groups and between patients and community norms. Although many relationships between personality traits and disorders were obtained, the magnitude of the relationships varied greatly as a function of the comparison group involved. In general, the differences between the personality disorder patients and community norms were far larger than the differences between the specific personality disorder groups. Also, for avoidant personality, it appeared that statistical interactions between personality factors are needed to better differentiate it from other personality disorder groups. The four personality disorder groups studied could each be distinguished from community norms on the personality dimensions of the five-factor model. However, differentiating among the four groups proved more difficult, as each shared the configuration of high Neuroticism, low Agreeableness, and low Conscientiousness. It does not appear that these disorders represent extremes of different personality dimensions, but rather each appears to be a variant of the same extreme configuration. Differences between personality disorders may reflect diverse interactions among the dimensions, rather than differences on single dimensions.     

The relationship between interaction patterns and agoraphobic fears among college students

In the present study, we investigated the relationships between self-reports of agoraphobic-like anxiety (fear of open, crowded places), panic experiences, childhood separation anxiety, and family interaction patterns in a college student population. The research was conducted in two parts. Correlational analyses of the results of Study 1 revealed significant relationships between anxiety, difficulties in managing life transitions, and measures of family interaction (intergenerational and peer individuation, intergenerational and peer intimacy) as measured by the Personal Authority in the Family System (Questionnaire (Williamson, Bay, Harvey, & Malone, 1985). In Study 2, we observed significant correlations between agoraphobic anxiety and measures of childhood separation anxiety, state and trait anxiety, and patterns of family enmeshment. The results were interpreted in the context of a broad perspective, which includes the role of developmental and interactional variables in the onset and maintenance of agoraphobic anxiety.     

The relationship between Facebook and the well-being of undergraduate college students

We investigated how Facebook use and attitudes relate to self-esteem and college adjustment, and expected to find a positive relationship between Facebook and social adjustment, and a negative relationship between Facebook, self-esteem, and emotional adjustment. We examined these relationships in first-year and upper-class students and expected to find differences between the groups. Seventy undergraduate students completed Facebook measures (time, number of friends, emotional and social connection to Facebook), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Student Adaptation to College Scale. First-year students had a stronger emotional connection to and spent more time on Facebook while they reported fewer friends than upper-class students did. The groups did not differ in the adjustment scores. The number of Facebook friends potentially hinders academic adjustment, and spending a lot of time on Facebook is related to low self-esteem. The number of Facebook friends was negatively associated with emotional and academic adjustment among first-year students but positively related to social adjustment and attachment to institution among upper-class students. The results suggest that the relationship becomes positive later in college life when students use Facebook effectively to connect socially with their peers. Lastly, the number of Facebook friends and not the time spent on Facebook predicted college adjustment, suggesting the value of studying further the notion of Facebook friends.