title: The Melbourne assessment of Schizotypy in kids: a useful measure of childhood schizotypal personality disorder.
abstract: Despite being identified as a high risk cohort for psychosis, there has been relatively little research on the clinical presentation and assessment of Schizotypal Personality Disorder (SPD) in childhood. The current study aimed to develop a measure of childhood SPD (Melbourne Assessment of Schizotypy in Kids (MASK)) and assess discriminant validity against another neurodevelopmental disorder, autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Sixty-eight children aged between 5 and 12 (21 SPD, 15 ASD, and 32 typically developing) and their parents were administered the MASK. The MASK is a 57-item semistructured interview that obtains information from the child, their parents, and the clinician. The results showed high internal consistency for the MASK and higher scores in the SPD group. A factor analysis revealed two MASK factors: social/pragmatic symptoms and positive schizotypal symptoms. Both factors were associated with SPD, while only the social/pragmatic factor was associated with ASD. Within the two clinical groups, a receiver operating characteristic curve showed that the MASK (cut-off score: 132 out of 228) was a good indicator of SPD diagnosis. These preliminary MASK findings were reliable and consistent and suggest that childhood SPD is characterised by complex symptomology distinguishable from ASD.
authors: School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia ; Department of Psychiatry, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Melbourne, Carlton South, VIC 3053, Australia.
authors: Harvey P
authors: HP
authors: Jones
authors: School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia ; Department of Psychiatry, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Melbourne, Carlton South, VIC 3053, Australia ; Child and Adolescent Neuropsychology Group, East Melbourne, VIC 3002, Australia.
authors: Renee R
authors: RR
authors: Testa
authors: Child and Adolescent Neuropsychology Group, East Melbourne, VIC 3002, Australia.
authors: Nola
authors: N
authors: Ross
authors: Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, VIC 3052, Australia.
authors: Marc L
authors: ML
authors: Seal
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Melbourne, Carlton South, VIC 3053, Australia.
authors: Christos
authors: 0000-0002-9565-0238
authors: C
authors: Pantelis
authors: Centre for Developmental Psychiatry and Psychology, School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University, VIC 3800, Australia.
authors: Bruce
authors: B
authors: Tonge
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012569:Schizotypal Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
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