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Core beliefs in healthy youth and youth at ultra high-risk for psychosis: Dimensionality and links to depression, anxiety, and attenuated psychotic symptoms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2018

Henry R. Cowan*
Affiliation:
Northwestern University
Dan P. McAdams
Affiliation:
Northwestern University
Vijay A. Mittal
Affiliation:
Northwestern University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Henry R. Cowan, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, 2029 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208. E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract

Cognitive theory posits that core beliefs play an active role in developing and maintaining symptoms of depression, anxiety, and psychosis. This study sought to comprehensively examine core beliefs, their dimensionality, and their relationships to depression, anxiety, and attenuated psychotic symptoms in two groups of community youth: a group at ultrahigh risk for psychosis (UHR; n = 73, M age = 18.7) and a matched healthy comparison group (HC; n = 73, M age = 18.1). UHR youth reported significantly more negative beliefs about self and others, and significantly less positive beliefs about self and others. HC youth rarely endorsed negative self-beliefs. Exploratory factor analyses found that HC negative self-beliefs did not cohere as a single factor. We hypothesized specific links between core beliefs and symptoms based on cognitive models of each disorder, and tested these links through regression analyses. The results in the HC group were consistent with the proposed models of depression and anxiety. The results in the UHR group were consistent with proposed models of depression and negative psychotic symptoms, somewhat consistent with a proposed model of positive psychotic symptoms, and not at all consistent with a proposed model of anxiety. These findings add to a growing developmental literature on core beliefs and psychopathology, with important clinical implications.

Type
Regular Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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Footnotes

This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health Grants RO1MH094650 and R21/R33MH103231 (to V.A.M.) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research DFS-152268 (to H.R.C.). We thank our many supportive colleagues and the participants without whom this research would not have been possible. Vijay A. Mittal is a consultant for Takeda. No other authors have any disclosures.

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