Does Culture Alter the Effect of Schizotypal Traits on Autobiographical Speech?

To date, the evidence of whether culture has a meaningful effect on schizotypy presentation remains heavily mixed. There is recent evidence that schizophrenia-like experiences, often conceptualized as lending to a reduced sense of self, influence autobiographical speech and social behavior (Minor et al., 2015; Minor et al., 2017). The current study sought to clarify the effect of culture on schizotypy, and whether culture interacts with schizotypy traits to effect autobiographical speech. 121 undergraduate students enrolled in a psychology course at the University of Illinois at Chicago completed a demographics questionnaire, the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief Revised Updated (SPQ), and a semi-structed interview assessing autobiographical speech. Of these participants, 57 Hispanic, 39 Asian, and 26 White/Caucasian individuals were included in the statistical analysis, as all other cultural groups did not reach sufficient power. Interviews were coded using the Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC; Pennebaker et al., 2007) and data was analyzed in R (4.0.2) using linear regression analysis. The current study found consistent evidence of a main effect of schizotypy traits (i.e., total SPQ score and the four SPQ factors) on autobiographical word use. No significant effect of culture on autobiographical word use nor any significant interaction with schizotypy traits was found. Cultural differences may shape expectations for individuals across phases of life, which may in term alter goal-related retrospection, self-concept, and perceived self-actualization. Further research should continue to assess whether culture has a significant effect on sense of self, autobiographical speech, and schizotypy among diverse groups.