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Schizophrenia Bulletin Advance Access originally published online on September 21, 2005
Schizophrenia Bulletin 2006 32(2):274-278; doi:10.1093/schbul/sbi064
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

The Factorial Structure of the Schedule for the Deficit Syndrome in Schizophrenia

David Kimhy1,2–3,, Scott Yale2,3,, Raymond R Goetz2,3,, Lynn Marcinko McFarr4 and Dolores Malaspina2,3,
2 Department of Psychiatry, Box 2, Columbia University, 1051 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10032
3 Department of Medical Genetics, New York State Psychiatric Institute
4 Department of Psychiatry, Harbor University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Center

1To whom correspondence should be addressed; phone: (212) 543-6817, fax: (212) 543-6176, e-mail: dk553{at}columbia.edu.

Deficit schizophrenia (DS) is considered a distinct subtype within the diagnosis of schizophrenia. While the common assumption is that DS represents a single, cohesive domain of psychopathology, the factorial structure of DS has not been investigated. We assessed 52 individuals with DSM-IV diagnoses of schizophrenia with DS. A principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted on the symptoms of the Schedule for the Deficit Syndrome. The PCA resulted in 2 distinct factors explaining 73.8% of the variance. Factor 1 (avolition) is made up of symptoms of curbing of interests, diminished sense of purpose, and diminished social drive. Factor 2 (emotional expression) is made up of symptoms of restricted affect, diminished emotional range, and poverty of speech. The results indicate that DS is best characterized by these 2 factors. The great majority of participants (86%) displayed DS symptoms from both factors. On average, participants had 4.19 (S.D. = 1.39) symptoms that were primary, enduring, and at least moderate in severity. The mean severity of symptoms was 2.25 (S.D. = 1.06). We discuss possible links between the obtained factors and putative neurobiological mechanisms, as well as directions for future research.

Keywords: schizophrenia / deficit syndrome / factor analysis / negative symptoms / avolition / emotion


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