The relationship between schizotypal personality traits, attachment styles, and early adverse experiences
Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the differences in manifestations of three schizotypal dimensions (cognitive-perceptive, interpersonal, disorganized), depending on the attachment style and exposure to different adverse experiences during childhood. The study was conducted on 181 participants, with a mean age of 20.09 years (SD = 2.19). Schizotypy was measured using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire - Brief Revised (SPQ-BR), and for the assessment of attachment styles and harmful experiences during childhood, special questionnaires were constructed. MANOVA showed that participants with a preoccupied attachment had the most prominent interpersonal and disorganized symptoms, while individuals with a fearful style had the highest scores on the interpersonal dimension. There were no significant differences between secure and avoidant attachment styles in either dimension of schizotypy. Adverse childhood experiences that turned out to be relevant for the manifestation of cognitive-perceptual symptoms were: frequent quarrels, negative impact on self-esteem in the family and frequent harassment outside the family. For interpersonal dimension, the most relevant experiences were: rejection in the peer group, severe physical punishment, negative impact on self-esteem, frequent harassment outside the family. For disorganization, the most important experiences were: restrained or aggressive behavior of the mother, aggressive and punishing behavior of the father, rejection in the peer group, severe physical punishment, negative impact on self-esteem, harassment outside the family. The results showed that preoccupied and fearful attachment styles were characterized by the most prominent schizotypal manifestations, and that different dimensions of schizotypy can be associated with specific early harmful experiences, which could explain the great heterogeneity in schizotypal symptoms.
References
Allen, J. P., Moore, C., Kuperminc, G., & Bell, K. (1998). Attachment and adolescent psychosocial functioning. Child Development, 69(5), 1406–1419.
Bartholomew, K. (1990). Avoidance of intimacy: An attachment perspective. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 7(2), 147-178. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407590072001
Bartholomew, K., & Horowitz, L. M. (1991). Attachment styles among young adults: A test of a four-category model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61(2), 226-244. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.61.2.226
Bentall, R. P., Claridge, G. S., & Slade, P. D. (1989). The multidimensional nature of schizotypal traits: A factor analytic study with normal subjects. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 28(4), 363–375. DOI:10.1111/j.2044- 8260.1989.tb00840.x
Berry, K., Wearden, A., Barrowclough, C., & Liversidge, T. (2006). Attachment styles, interpersonal relationships and psychotic phenomena in a non-clinical student sample. Personality and Individual Differences 41(4), 707–718. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2006.03.009
Berry, K., Band, R., Corcoran, R., Barrowclough, C., & Wearden, A. (2007). Attachment styles, earlier interpersonal relationships and schizotypy in a non-clinical sample. Psychology and Psychotherapy, 80(4), 563-576. doi: 10.1348/147608307X188368
Berry, K., Varese, F., & Bucci, S. (2017). Cognitive attachment model of voices: Evidence base and future implications. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 8, 111. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2017.00111
Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss: Retrospect and prospect. The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 52(4), 664–678. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1939-0025.1982.tb01456.x
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.
Cohen, J., Miles, J., & Shevlin, M. (2001). Applying regression and correlation: A guide for students and researchers. Sage.
Cohen, A. S., Matthews, R. A., Najolia, G. M., & Brown, L. A. (2010). Toward a more psychometrically sound brief measure of schizotypal traits: Introducing the SPQ Brief Revised. Journal of Personality Disorders 24(4), 516–537. https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi.2010.24.4.516
DeShon, R. P. (2004). Measures are not invariant across groups without error variance homogeneity. Psychology Science, 46(1), 137-149. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.456.7135&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Dozier, M., & Bates, B. C. (2004). Attachment state of mind and the treatment relationship. In L. Atkinson & S. Goldberg (Eds.), Attachment issues in psychopathology and intervention (pp. 167–180). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
Ettinger, U., Mohr, C., Gooding, D. C., Cohen, A. S., Rapp, A., Haenschel, C., & Park, S., (2015). Cognition and brain function in schizotypy: A selective review. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 41(Suppl. 2), 417–426. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbu190
Garety, P. A., Kuipers, E., Fowler, D., Freeman, D. & Bebbington, P. E. (2001). A cognitive model of the positive symptoms of psychosis. Psychological Medicine, 31(2), 189–195. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291701003312
Gibson, L. E., Alloy, L. B., & Ellman, L. M. (2016). Trauma and the psychosis spectrum: A review of symptom specificity and explanatory mechanisms. Clinical Psychology Review, 49, 92-105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2016.08.003.
Irwin, H. J. (2001). The relationship between dissociative tendencies and schizotypy: An artifact of childhood trauma? Journal of Clinical Psychology, 57(3), 331-342. doi: 10.1002/jclp.1015. PMID: 11241363.
Janssen, I., Krabbendam, L., Bak, M., Hanssen, M., Vollebergh, W., de Graaf, R. & van Os, J. (2004). Childhood abuse as a risk factor for psychotic experiences. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 109(1), 38–45. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.0001-690x.2003.00217.x
Kobak, R. R., & Sceery, A. (1988). Attachment in late adolescence: Working models, affect regulation, and representations of self and others. Child Development, 59(1), 135–146. https://doi.org/10.2307/1130395
Korver-Nieberg, N., Berry, K., Meijer, C. J., & de Haan, L., (2014). Adult attachment and psychotic phenomenology in clinical and non-clinical samples: A systematic review. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 87(2), 127–154. https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12010
Kwapil, T. R., & Barrantes-Vidal, N. (2015). Schizotypy: Looking back and moving forward. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 41(Suppl. 2), 366-373. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbu186
Lenzenweger, M. F., & Dworkin, R. H. (1996). The dimensions of schizophrenia phenomenology. Not one or two, at least three, perhaps four. British Journal of Psychiatry, 168(4), 432-440. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.168.4.432
Liddle, P. F. (1987). The symptoms of chronic schizophrenia: A re-examination of the positive-negative dichotomy. British Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 145- 151. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.151.2.145
Loewy, R. L., Corey, S., Amirfathi, F., Dabit, S., Fulford, D., Pearson, R., Hua, J., Schlosser, D., Stuart, B. K., Mathalon, D. H., & Vinogradov, S. (2019). Childhood trauma and clinical high risk for psychosis. Schizophrenia research, 205, 10–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2018.05.003
Mason, O., Claridge, G., & Jackson, M. (1995). New scales for the assessment of schizotypy. Personality and Individual Differences, 18(1), 7-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(94)00132-C
Meins, E., Jones, S. R., Fernyhough, C., Hurndall, S., & Koronis, P. (2008). Attachment dimensions and schizotypy in a non-clinical sample. Personality and Individual Differences, 44(4), 1000-1011. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2007.10.026
Nelson, M. T., Seal, M. L., Pantelis, C., & Phillips, L. J. (2013). Evidence of a dimensional relationship between schizotypy and schizophrenia: A systematic review. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 37(3), 317- 327. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.01.004
Parker, G., Fairley, M., Greenwood, J., Jurd, S., & Silove, D. (1982). Parental representations of schizophrenics and their association with onset and course of schizophrenia. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 573–581. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.141.6.573
Pedović, I. (2011). Afektivna vezanost i socijalna samoefikasnost. Godišnjak za psihologiju, 7(9), 261-280.
Ponizovsky, A. M., Nechamkin, Y., & Rosca, P. (2007). Attachment patterns are associated with symptomatology and course of schizophrenia in male inpatients. The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 77(2), 324–331. https://doi.org/10.1037/0002-9432.77.2.324
Raine, A. (1991). The SPQ: A scale for the assessment of schizotypal personality based on DSM-III-R criteria. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 17(4), 555-564. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/17.4.555
Raine, A., Mellingen, K., Liu, J., Venables, P., & Mednick, S. A. (2003). Effects of environmental enrichment at ages 3-5 years on schizotypal personality and antisocial behavior at ages 17 and 23 years. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160(9), 1627–1635.
Raine, A. (2006). Schizotypal personality: Neurodevelopmental and psychosocial trajectories. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 2, 291-326. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.2.022305.095318
Read, J., van Os, J., Morrison, A. P., & Ross, C. A. (2005). Childhood trauma, psychosis and schizophrenia: A literature review with theoretical and clinical implications. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 112(5), 330–350. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0447.2005.00634.x
Shearman, N., Millings, A., Carroll, D., & Rowe, A. (2019). A preliminary exploration of the links between attachment disorganisation and schizotypy dimensions in adulthood. Schizophrenia Research, 208, 493-495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2019.01.004.
Sheinbaum, T., Bedoya, E., Ros-Morente, A., Kwapil, T. R., & Barrantes-Vidal. N. (2013). Association between attachment prototypes and schizotypy dimensions in two independent non-clinical samples of Spanish and American young adults. Psychiatry Research, 210(2), 408–413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2013.07.020
Sheinbaum, T., Racioppi, A., Thomas R. Kwapil, T. R., & Barrantes-Vidal, N. (2020). Attachment as a mechanism between childhood maltreatment and subclinical psychotic phenomena: Results from an eight-year follow-up study. Schizophrenia Research, 220, 261-264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2020.03.023
Shevlin, M., Murphy, J., Read, J., Mallett, J., Adamson, G., & Houston, J. E. (2011). Childhood adversity and hallucinations: A community-based study using the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 46(12), 1203–1210. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-010-0296-x
Spauwen, J., Krabbendam, L., Lieb, R., Wittchen, H. U. & van Os, J. (2006). Impact of psychological trauma on the development of psychotic symptoms: relationship with psychosis proneness. British Journal of Psychiatry 188, 527–533.
Stanton, K. J., Denietolis, B., Goodwin, B. J., & Dvir, Y. (2020). Childhood trauma and psychosis: An updated review. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 29(1), 115–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2019.08.004
Stefanović-Stanojević, T. (2005). Emocionalni razvoj ličnosti. Prosveta.
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2013). Using multivariate statistics (6th ed.). Pearson.
Tiliopoulos, N., & Goodall, K. (2009). The neglected link between adult attachment and schizotypal personality traits. Personality and Individual Differences, 47(4), 299–304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2009.03.017
Varese, F., Barkus, E., & Bentall, R. P. (2011). Dissociative and metacognitive factors in hallucination-proneness when controlling for comorbid symptoms. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 16(3), 193–217. https://doi.org/10.1080/13546805.2010.495244
Varese, F., Barkus, E., & Bentall, R. P. (2012). Dissociation mediates the relationship between childhood trauma and hallucination-proneness. Psychological Medicine, 42(5), 1025–1036. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291711001826
Velikonja, T., Fisher, H. L., Mason, O., & Johnson, S. (2015). Childhood trauma and schizotypy: A systematic literature review. Psychological medicine, 45(5), 947–963. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291714002086
Wilson, J. S., & Costanzo, P. R. (1996). A preliminary study of attachment, attention, and schizotypy in early adulthood. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 15(2), 231–260. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.1996.15.2.231
- Autori zadržavaju autorska prava i pružaju časopisu pravo prvog objavljivanja rada i licenciraju ga "Creative Commons Attribution licencom" koja omogućava drugima da dele rad, uz uslov navođenja autorstva i izvornog objavljivanja u ovom časopisu.
- Autori mogu izraditi zasebne, ugovorne aranžmane za neekskluzivnu distribuciju članka objavljenog u časopisu (npr. postavljanje u institucionalni repozitorijum ili objavljivanje u knjizi), uz navođenje da je članak izvorno objavljen u ovom časopisu.
- Autorima je dozvoljeno i podstiču se da postave objavljeni članak onlajn (npr. u institucionalni repozitorijum ili na svoju internet stranicu) pre ili tokom postupka prijave rukopisa, s obzirom da takav postupak može voditi produktivnoj razmeni ideja i ranijoj i većoj citiranosti objavljenog članka (Vidi Efekti otvorenog pristupa).