The Role of Schizotypy Dimensions in Biasing Self-Monitoring in Incarcerated and Typically Developing Adolescents
Poster A4, Thursday, October 20, 11:30 am - 1:00 pm, Le Baron
Larisa Morosan1,2, Deborah Badoud1,2, Patrick Heller3, Stephan Eliez2, Martin Debbané1,2,4; 1Developmental Clinical Psychology Unit, Faculty of Psychology, University of Geneva, Switzerland, 2Office Médico-Pédagogique Research Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, University of Geneva, Switzerland,, 3Department of forensic medicine and psychiatry, Department of communitarian, emergency and first aid medicine and psychiatry, Department of mental health and psychiatry, University Hospital of Geneva, 4Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, UK
Self-monitoring, the ability to identify the source of self-generated material, represents an important process underpinning attribution biases, characteristic for psychotic and antisocial disorders. The aim of the present study is to investigate the self-monitoring, involving different levels of cognitive effort, in incarcerated and in typically developing adolescents, in relation with schizotypy and antisocial traits. Fifty-one incarcerated adolescents (17 females; m age= 15.73, SD=1.37) and 79 community adolescents (25 females; m age=15.9, SD=1.37) participated in the study. Self-monitoring was tested using a silent/overt reading task. Analyses targeted the potential externalization and internalization biases during the task. Personality traits were assessed using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire. Mann-Whitney test indicated that incarcerated adolescence report more disorganized manifestations of schizotypy, U= 4 751, p=. 03. The results of 2x2 repeated measures ANOVA for attribution biases in conditions of cognitive effort indicate an overall group effect F(1, 108)= 6.13, p=.01 and an interaction effect, F(1, 108)=5.04, p=.02. These results suggest that, in the high cognitive effort condition, the incarcerated adolescents present an externalization bias, whereas the community adolescents show an internalization bias in the high cognitive load condition and an externalizing bias in the low cognitive effort condition. In conclusion, the results indicate that the incarcerated adolescents present an externalization bias in the high cognitive effort condition, whereas the community adolescents present the reversed pattern. Future studies are needed in order to explore the implication of the self-monitoring biases in the development of behavioral problems during adolescence and their interactions with schizotypal dimensions of personality.
Topic Area: Comorbid Conditions