CHILDHOOD BEHAVIOR PRECURSORS OF SCHIZOTYPAL PERSONALITY-DISORDER

No study has yet reported specifically on the early behavior of indivi duals later diagnosed with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD), Thi s study examines prospectively collected teacher reports on school beh avior as a means of assessing childhood precursors of SPD. Thirty-six DSM-III-R diagnosed schizotypal subjects were compared with four other groups: 31 schizophrenia patients, 37 diagnosed as nonpsychotic menta lly ill, 68 who were not mentally ill but had mothers with schizophren ia, and 60 who were not mentally ill and had normal parents, These ind ividuals were compared on a teachers' school report questionnaire obta ined when the subjects averaged 15.1 years old, Those who later develo ped SPD were found to be more passive and unengaged and more hypersens itive to criticisms compared with the nonschizophrenia groups, Similar results were found when males and females were examined separately, e xcept that males who developed SPD were found to be less disruptive an d hyperexcitable compared with males with schizophrenia; females with SPD did not differ from females with schizophrenia, A receiver operati ng characteristic analysis found these factors to predict 73.5 percent of future SPDs; the ability of these factors to predict future SPDs i s comparable for males and females, These findings suggest that presch izotypal traits may be identified in late childhood or adolescence.