Sex differences in the association between childhood adversities and schizotypal personality traits

• Published in: Psychiatry research Vol. 269; pp. 31 - 37
• Main Authors: Toutountzidis, Diamantis, Gale, Tim M, Irvine, Karen, Sharma, Shivani, Laws, Keith R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier B.V 01.11.2018
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Child Abuse - diagnosis; Child Abuse - psychology; Childhood abuse; Early trauma; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Personality; Physical Abuse - psychology; Psychological stress; Psychosis-like symptoms; Schizotypal Personality Disorder - diagnosis; Schizotypal Personality Disorder - epidemiology; Schizotypal Personality Disorder - psychology; Schizotypal personality traits; Self Report - standards; Sex Characteristics; Surveys and Questionnaires; Young Adult; Psychological stress; Childhood abuse; Early trauma; Schizotypal personality traits; Psychosis-like symptoms
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2018.08.025

•Emotional abuse was found to be the ‘strongest’ predictor of schizotypy.•Sex differences emerged in the association between physical abuse and schizotypy – affecting only women even though men reported higher levels of physical abuse.•Sexual abuse did not independently predict schizotypy.•No simple linear relationship between different types of early trauma and schizotypy was supported. Patients with psychosis report higher levels of adverse events in childhood. This relationship has not been extensively examined in healthy individuals who score highly on schizotypal personality traits. This study examined the association between different childhood traumas and psychosis-like traits in a general population sample, as well as differences in those links between men and women. Participants completed an online survey including measures of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, and schizotypal personality traits. Results showed that the experience of emotional abuse was associated with a range of both positive and negative psychosis-like traits in both sexes. Sex differences emerged in the association between physical abuse and schizotypal personality traits. Although men reported more physical abuse in early life than women, this type of trauma was only associated with schizotypal traits in women and not in men. Additionally, women scored higher than men in sexual abuse; however, sexual abuse did not explicitly predict any schizotypal traits in the presence of the other two types of abuse. A simple linear or dose-response relationship between different types of trauma and psychosis-like traits was not supported. The importance of emotional abuse on schizotypy was highlighted in both sexes.