Revisiting the latent structure of negative symptoms in schizophrenia: Evidence from two second-generation clinical assessments br

Background: Negative symptoms are core symptom of schizophrenia, and many previous research studied the latent structure of negative symptoms based on a single measurement scale. Applying two second-generation negative symptom scales to the same sample can address measurement-invariance of latent structure.Methods: Three-hundred-and-five schizophrenia patients were assessed using the CAINS and the BNSS. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) tested four competing factor-models: (1) a 1-factor model; (2) a 2-factor model comprising the motivation and pleasure (MAP) domain and the diminished expression (EXP) domain; (3) a 5-factor model comprising anhedonia, avolition, asociality, blunted affect and alogia; (4) a hierarchical model comprising the first-order 5-domain factors and the second-order MAP & EXP factors.Results: The CFA results for the data of the CAINS showed that the 2-factor model had the best data fit over the other competing models. The CFA using the BNSS data in the same sample also supported the superiority of the 2factor model. Lastly, after combining the items of the BNSS and CAINS together in the same sample for CFA, the 2-factor model prevailed over the other competing models.Conclusions: The 2-factor model appears to be measurement-invariant latent structure of negative symptoms. The novel method of combining the items of the CAINS and BNSS might have circumvented the possible imperfect construct of a single scale. Our findings support the MAP and EXP factors as the latent structure for negative symptoms.

Automated summary

This study examined the latent structure of negative symptoms in schizophrenia using two second-generation negative symptom scales. The results indicate that a 2-factor model, comprising the motivation and pleasure (MAP) domain and the diminished expression (EXP) domain, provided the best fit for the data. Combining the items from both scales further supported the superiority of the 2-factor model. The findings suggest that the MAP and EXP factors represent the latent structure of negative symptoms.