title: Ethnicity and baseline symptomatology in patients with an At Risk Mental State for psychosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ethnicity has been associated with different incidence rates and different symptom profiles in young patients with psychotic-like disorders. No studies so far have examined the effect of ethnicity on symptoms in people with an At Risk Mental State (ARMS).
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional study, we analysed the relationship between ethnicity and baseline data on the severity of psychopathology scores in 201 help-seeking patients who met the ARMS criteria and agreed to participate in the Dutch Early Detection and Intervention (EDIE-NL) trial. Eighty-seven of these patients had a non-Dutch ethnicity. We explored the possible mediating role of ethnic identity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Higher rates of negative symptoms, and of anhedonia in particular, were found in the ethnic minority group. This result could be attributed mainly to the Moroccan-Dutch and Turkish-Dutch subgroups, who also presented with more depression symptoms when the groups were examined separately. The ethnic minority group displayed a lower level of ethnic group identity compared to the immigrants of the International Comparative Study of Ethnocultural Youth (ICSEY). Ethnic identity was inversely related to symptoms in the Moroccan-Dutch patient group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of more severe negative symptoms and depression symptoms in ethnic minority groups deserves more attention, as the experience of attenuated positive symptoms when accompanied by negative symptoms or distress has proven to be predictive for transition to a first psychotic episode.
authors.affiliation: Department of Early Psychosis, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Velthorst
authors.affiliation: Department of Early Psychosis, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Nieman
authors.affiliation: Parnassia Psychiatric Institute, The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Veling
authors.affiliation: GGZ Rivierduinen, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Klaassen
authors.affiliation: Department of Early Psychosis, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dragt
authors.affiliation: VU University and EMGO Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rietdijk
authors.affiliation: Parnassia Psychiatric Institute, The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ising
authors.affiliation: GGZ Friesland, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wunderink
authors.affiliation: Department of Early Psychosis, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: D H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Linszen
authors.affiliation: Department of Early Psychosis, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: de Haan
authors.affiliation: Parnassia Psychiatric Institute, The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van der Gaag
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D059445:Anhedonia / Q000502:physiology; D001526:Behavioral Symptoms / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009018:Morocco / Q000208:ethnology; D009426:Netherlands / Q000208:ethnology; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000208:ethnology*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012306:Risk; D012933:Social Identification; D014421:Turkey / Q000208:ethnology; D055815:Young Adult