Object relations and reality testing in early- and late-onset schizophrenia

One hundred fifty-seven U.S. military veterans with schizophrenia were divi ded into early-onset (i.e.. onset at age 20 or before, n = 36) and late-ons et (i.e.. onset after age 30, n = 28) groups and completed the Bell Object Relations and Reality Testing Inventory (BORRTI). the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, and several representative neuropsychological instruments. Participants were compared on background characteristics and test measures . The early-onset group demonstrated significantly more object-relations an d reality-testing deficits than the late-onset group. In contrast, no signi ficant group differences were found on symptom or neuropsychological variab les. An a posteriori three-group analysis that included the middle age of o nset group (i.e.. ages 21 to 30) found that the middle group had mean value s that fell between early- and late-onset groups on most variables. No dist inct patterns of BORRTI subscale scores distinguished the middle group. The finding that object-relations and reality-testing deficits are more pronou nced in early-onset schizophrenia has implications for the treatment and re habilitation of schizophrenia. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.