Cross-cultural invariance of the factor structure of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire across Spanish and American college students

The main goal of this study was to examine the cross-cultural invariance of the factor structure of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) (Raine, 1991) in two large samples of Spanish and American young adults. The final sample was made up of 2313 college students (508 men, 22%). Their mean age was 20.5 years (S.D.=3.2). The results indicated that the Stefanis et al. (2004) four-factor model yielded the best goodness-of-fit indices compared to alternative models. Moreover, the results support configural, metric, and partial measurement invariance of the covariances of the SPQ across the two samples. The finding of measurement equivalence across cultures provides essential evidence of construct validity for the schizotypy dimensions and of the cross-cultural validity of SPQ scores. The finding of comparable dimensional structures in cross-cultural samples lends further support to the continuum model of schizotypy and schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Future studies should continue to examine the validity of scores on the SPQ and other schizotypy measures and their variation or consistency across cultures. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.