Does childhood trauma predict schizotypal traits? A path modelling approach in a cohort of help-seeking subjects.

Schizotypy constitutes a susceptibility to beneficial and deleterious schizotypal traits, ranging from coping mechanisms to schizotypal personality disorder on a psychosis continuum. Growing evidence indicates a relationship between childhood adversity and trauma and schizotypy. However, the exact influence of childhood adversity and trauma on schizotypy and its relation to sex is not sufficiently understood.

Is there a diagnosis-specific influence of childhood trauma on later educational attainment? A machine learning analysis in a large help-seeking sample.

Background: Childhood adversities and trauma (CAT) are associated with poor functional outcome. However, the influence of the single CAT aspects on the risk of a poor functional outcome within different mental disorders has not been investigated so far. Our aims were (i) to predict individual functional outcome based on CAT (ii) to examine whether the prediction power differs within different diagnostic groups (clinical high-risk for psychosis (CHR), psychosis, affective disorders, anxiety disorders) (iii) to compare the specific patterns of CAT experiences, influencing functional outcomes in these groups.