title: Confirming the latent structure and base rate of schizotypy: a taxometric analysis.
abstract: Meehl's (1962, 1990) model of schizotypy and the development of schizophrenia implies that the structure of liability for schizophrenia is dichotomous and that a "schizogene" determines membership in a latent class, or taxon (Meehl & Golden, 1982). The authors sought to determine the latent structure and base rate of schizotypy. They applied Meehl's (1973; Meehl & Golden, 1982) MAXCOV-HITMAX taxometric analytic procedures to a subset of items from the Perceptual Aberration Scale (PAS; Chapman, Chapman, & Raulin, 1978), a prominent psychometric index of schizotypy, derived from a randomly ascertained nonclinical university sample (N = 1,093). The results, in accordance with Meehl's conjectures, strongly suggest that schizotypy, as assessed by the PAS, is taxonic at the latent level with a general population taxon base rate of approximately .10.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-4401.
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Lenzenweger
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Korfine
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010553:Personality Development; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012307:Risk Factors; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012569:Schizotypal Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology