Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Westminster, 115 New Cavendish Street, London W1W 6UW, UK
  • 2 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Westminster, 115 New Cavendish Street, London W1W 6UW, UK ; Department of Psychology, HELP University, BZ-2, Pusat Bandar Damansara (Main Block), 50490 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 3 Department of Clinical Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies, Mount Hope, Champs Fleurs, Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago
Biomed Res Int, 2015;2015:258275.
PMID: 25699263 DOI: 10.1155/2015/258275

Abstract

Much debate in schizotypal research has centred on the factor structure of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), with research variously showing higher-order dimensionality consisting of two to seven dimensions. In addition, cross-cultural support for the stability of those factors remains limited. Here, we examined the factor structure of the SPQ among British and Trinidadian adults. Participants from a White British subsample (n = 351) resident in the UK and from an African Caribbean subsample (n = 284) resident in Trinidad completed the SPQ. The higher-order factor structure of the SPQ was analysed through confirmatory factor analysis, followed by multiple-group analysis for the model of best fit. Between-group differences for sex and ethnicity were investigated using multivariate analysis of variance in relation to the higher-order domains. The model of best-fit was the four-factor structure, which demonstrated measurement invariance across groups. Additionally, these data had an adequate fit for two alternative models: (a) 3-factor and (b) modified 4-factor model. The British subsample had significantly higher scores across all domains than the Trinidadian group, and men scored significantly higher on the disorganised domain than women. The four-factor structure received confirmatory support and, importantly, support for use with populations varying in ethnicity and culture.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.