Evidence that three dimensions of psychosis have a distribution in the general population
2002/02/01 by Nicholas C. Stefanis, N. C. STEFANIS, M. Hanssen +13 · 966 citations
Arts and Humanities · Immunology and Microbiology · Medicine · Psychology · #Clinical psychology #Cognition #Confirmatory factor analysis #Depression (economics) #Depressive symptoms #Medicine #Mental Health and Psychiatry #Population #Psoriasis: Treatment and Pathogenesis #Psychiatry #Psychology #Psychosis #Schizophrenia (object-oriented programming) #Schizophrenia research and treatment #Statistics #Structural equation modeling
paper · doi:10.1017/s0033291701005141
published in Psychological Medicine 32(2), 347-358 (Cambridge University Press)
openalex publication_date 2002/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The aims of the study were: first to examine, using clinical symptoms of patients as a template, whether the correlated but independent dimensions of positive, negative and depressive symptoms that have been identified in clinical psychosis, also have a distribution as non-clinical experiences in the general population; and second, to establish to what degree population variation in experience of positive and negative features of psychosis is actually independent of experience of depression. METHOD: In a representative population sample of 932 young men, we measured experiences of positive, negative and depressive features of psychosis, using a 40-item self-report instrument. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to compare the fit of hypothesized one-, two- and three-factor solutions. RESULTS: A three-factor model of separate depressive, positive and negative dimensions provided a better fit to the data than either a two-factor or unidimensional model. All three dimensions were correlated with each other, but also showed good discriminant validity in relation to established scales, confirming their relative independence. CONCLUSION: The data suggest that the correlated dimensions of clinical psychosis also have a distribution in the general population, and that depressive symptoms may form an integral part of psychosis-like experiences in the general population.
Citations
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