Schizotypy, dissociative experiences and childhood abuse: Relationships among self-report measures

Objectives. The traits and experiences that are seen as defining the schizo phrenic and the dissociative disorders have been found to be present in con tinuously variable, non-pathological forms in the general population. Altho ugh the theoretical accounts that have been offered for the two kinds of di sorder differ radically, there are reasons to expect that the measures that have been developed to assess schizotypal traits and dissociative experien ces will be correlated. The aims of this study were to investigate the degr ee of correlation between measures and the extent to which the covariation can be explained by questionnaire items with similar content and experience s of childhood sexual and physical abuse. Design. Cross-sectional data from self-report measures completed by 224 par ticipants were subjected to multivariate analyses. Method. The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), three subscales from the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (O-LIFE) and two ite ms assessing childhood abuse were mailed to all adult members of a voluntee r participant panel. Results. Moderately large correlations were found between the DES and both the Cognitive Disorganization and the Unusual Experiences subscales of the O-LIFE. These correlations were hardly affected when items with overlapping content were excluded. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed th at the measures of abuse accounted for small but significant proportions of the variance in both the DES and the Unusual Experiences subscale, but lar ge proportions of the covariation between the measures of dissociative expe riences and schizotypy remained unexplained. Conclusion. The substantial correlations between measures point to limitati ons in the discriminant validity of the DES and two of the O-LIFE subscales . Three possible explanations are offered for the observed associations bet ween dissociative experiences and schizotypal traits.