Attribution bias in ultra-high risk for psychosis and first-episode schizophrenia.
BACKGROUND
Attribution style bias, such as a greater tendency to perceive hostility, has been reported to be associated with paranoia in multi-episode, chronic schizophrenia patients. The aim of this study was to investigate whether young, first-episode schizophrenia patients exhibited a perceived hostility bias and if this bias was correlated with persecutory symptoms. This study also explored whether this attribution bias, associated with paranoid tendencies, also emerged in participants at ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis.


METHODS
Thirty-nine normal controls, 24 UHR participants, and 20 young, first-episode schizophrenia patients were asked to complete the Ambiguous Intentions Hostility Questionnaire (AIHQ) and other psychosocial measures. The AIHQ, specifically developed for paranoia, is a self-report questionnaire about negative outcomes that varied intentionality (i.e., intentional, accidental, and ambiguous intentions). The perceived hostility, composite blame, and aggression bias scores were calculated, in this study, from the ambiguous situations.


RESULTS
First-episode patients with schizophrenia were found to have a perceived hostility bias, which was associated with persecutory symptoms. The UHR participants also showed an attribution bias for perceiving hostility and blaming others, and this attribution bias was linked to the paranoia process.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that a biased attribution style linked with paranoid symptoms may not only be present in first-episode psychotic patients but may already have evolved prior to the onset of frank psychotic symptoms. A biased attribution style may play a pivotal role in the persecutory process during the prodromal phase as well as a patient's first schizophrenic episode.
An
Suk Kyoon
SK
Department of Psychiatry, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 250 Seongsanno, Seodaemun-gu, 120-752 Seoul, South Korea.
Kang
Jee In
JI
Park
Jin Young
JY
Kim
Kyung Ran
KR
Lee
Su Young
SY
Lee
Eun
E
D000293:Adolescent; D015982:Bias; D005260:Female; D006791:Hostility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012649:Self Concept; D012938:Social Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult