No study has yet reported specifically on the early
behavior of individuals later diagnosed with schizo-
typal personality disorder (SPD). This study examines
prospectively collected teacher reports on school
behavior as a means of assessing childhood precursors
of SPD. Thirty-six DSM-IU-R diagnosed schizotypal
subjects were compared with four other groups: 31
schizophrenia patients, 37 diagnosed as nonpsychotic
mentally ill, 68 who were not mentally ill but had
mothers with schizophrenia, and 60 who were not
mentally ill and had normal parents. These individuals
were compared on a teachers' school report question-
naire obtained when the subjects averaged 15.1 years
old. Those who later developed SPD were found to be
more passive and unengaged and more hypersensitive
to criticisms compared with the nonschizophrenia
groups. Similar results were found when males and
females were examined separately, except that males
who developed SPD were found to be less disruptive
and hyperexcitable compared with males with schizo-
phrenia; females with SPD did not differ from females
with schizophrenia. A receiver operating characteristic
analysis found these factors to predict 73.5 percent of
future SPDs; the ability of these factors to predict
future SPDs is comparable for males and females.
These findings suggest that preschizotypal traits may
be identified in late childhood or adolescence.--this text is not mine
