title: The 2D:4D ratio of the hand and schizotypal personality traits in schizophrenia patients and healthy control persons.
abstract: Prenatal estrogen/testosterone exposure is known to be involved in early brain development. In this context, the ratio of the index finger to ring finger length (2D:4D) has been put forward as an indicator of the intrauterine sex hormonal level. A previous study by Collinson et al. (2010) examined 2D:4D ratios in Asian patients with schizophrenia and found an increased 2D:4D pattern in male patients compared to male healthy controls. In the current study, we tried to replicate the result of this study on the 2D:4D ratio in schizophrenia patients and controls in a Chinese sample. Moreover, we investigated the link between 2D:4D ratios and schizotypal personality traits in the participants of the study. No significant difference between cases and controls in 2D:4D ratios for both hands could be observed. However, a positive association between right 2D:4D ratio and schizotypal personality traits was found in healthy controls (both in the male and female subsamples) suggesting that a high 2D:4D ratio could represent a vulnerability factor for schizophrenia in healthy males and females. Same results were observed for the digit ratio of the left hand and the SPQ in the healthy total and healthy female subsample. Therefore, the inclusion of personality measures to study the link between the digit ratio and schizophrenia might help to provide insights in a potential continuum from healthy to schizophrenic behavior.
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Wan Ping Nan Road 600, 200030 Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yi-Kang
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Wan Ping Nan Road 600, 200030 Shanghai, China. Electronic address: chunbo_li@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Chun-Bo
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Wan Ping Nan Road 600, 200030 Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Psychotic Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Wan Ping Nan Road 600, 200030 Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Ji-Jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Bonn, Kaiser-Karl-Ring 9, 53111 Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lachmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Bonn, Kaiser-Karl-Ring 9, 53111 Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Rayna
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sariyska
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Bonn, Kaiser-Karl-Ring 9, 53111 Bonn, Germany; Center for Economics and Neuroscience, University of Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: christian.montag@uni-bonn-diff.de.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Montag
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012569:Schizotypal Personality Disorder / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Digit ratio; Personality; SPQ; Schizophrenia