Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire - Brief Revised: Psychometric replication and extension

The psychometric screening and detection of schizotypy through the use of concise self-report assessment instruments such as the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire - Brief Revised (SPQ-BR; Cohen, Matthews, Najolia, & Brown, 2010) enables an expeditious identification of individuals at putatively elevated risk to develop schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Using 2 large, culturally diverse, independent samples, this study expanded the psychometric evaluation of this instrument by presenting a series of confirmatory factor analyses; reviewing internal consistency reliabilities; and evaluating the construct validity of the scale by way of examining group differences in SPQ-BR scores between individuals with and without self-reported family histories of schizophrenia. The results indicate a 2-tier factor solution of the measure and indicate strong internal reliability for the scale. Findings regarding construct validity of the SPQ-BR are more variable with the Cognitive-Perceptual Deficits superordinate factor receiving the strongest evidentiary support. Limitations of this study and directions for future research are discussed.