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Little work has been done to determine objective, reliable differences in formal characteristics of the actual utterances of thought-disordered and non-thought-disordered subjects. The type-token ratio (TTR), a quantitative measure of repetition in language, correlated highly with clinical judgments of thought disorder when spoken language was examined, and statistically differentiated thought-disordered from non-thought-disordered schizophrenics and psychiatric and normal controls. Elicited and spontaneous motor abnormalities were associated with reduced TTRs both in schizophrenics and in affective subjects with motor disturbance. The TTR is a reliable, objective indicator of language deviance and thought disorder, and strongly associated with motor disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some research indicates that thought-disordered schizophrenics produce language utterances that are less predictable than those of non-thought-disordered schizophrenics and controls. We examined the hypothesis that thought-disordered schizophrenics would have a parallel deficiency in the ability to use the predictabilities provided by contextual constraint to improve recall of heard language passages. Subjects were seventeen schizophrenics, ten normal controls, and twelve psychiatric controls, evaluated by standardized psychiatric interview and diagnosed according to research criteria. The data obtained supported the hypothesis and non-thought-disordered schizophrenics performed similarly to controls in the experimental task. Failure to classify schizophrenic subjects on the dimension of though disorder may result in misleading comparisons of general samples of schizophrenics with controls on tasks requiring language perception and production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has resulted in inconsistent findings regarding the predictability of schizophrenic speech samples. It was hypothesized that the predictability of schizophrenic speech varies as a function of clinically manifest thought disorder. In an experiment based on the Cloze procedure, raters were asked to predict ten passages of schizophrenic speech and eight passages of normal speech under conditions of fourth- and fifth-word deletion. Differences emerged between the samples only for the fifth-word deletion procedure. When the schizophrenic samples were grouped according to the presence of thought disorder, thought-disordered speech was significantly less predictable than normal and non-thought disordered schizophrenic speech. Furthermore, non-thought-disordered schizophrenic speech was no less predictable than normal speech. It is concluded that schizophrenia should be more carefully defined and that thought disorder should be routinely assessed in future investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the language of schizophrenia. Accordingly, psychopathologists have tended to regard the phenomena of schizophrenic language as reflections of a more basin disturbance of thought. This study has reviewed the present state of knowledge about language disturbances in schizophrenia and will suggest a theoretical formulation that may serve to encompass many reported empirical findings. The measures derived from the study of informational or statistical regularities in normal language provide a somewhat limited basis for the study of psychotic utterances.

Internalizing symptoms during adolescence and beyond is a major public health concern, particularly because severe symptoms can lead to the diagnosis of a number of serious psychiatric conditions. This study utilizes a unique sample with a complex statistical method in order to explore Gene × Environment interactions found in internalizing symptoms during adolescence. Data for this study were drawn from a longitudinal prevention intervention study (n = 798) of Baltimore city school children. Internalizing symptom data were collected using self-report and blood or saliva samples genotyped using Affymetrix 6.0 microarrays. A major depression polygenic score was created for each individual using information from the major depressive disorder Psychiatric Genetics Consortium and used as a predictor in a latent trait-state-occasion model. The major depressive disorder polygenic score was a significant predictor of the stable latent trait variable, which captures time-independent phenotypic variability. In addition, an early childhood stressor of death or divorce was a significant predictor of occasion-specific variables. A Gene × Environment interaction was not a significant predictor of the latent trait or occasion variables. These findings support the importance of genetics on the stable latent trait portion of internalizing symptoms across adolescence.

The present study examines the interaction between a polygenic score and an elementary school-based universal preventive intervention trial. The polygenic score reflects the contribution of multiple genes and has been shown in prior research to be predictive of smoking cessation and tobacco use (Uhl et al., 2014). Using data from a longitudinal preventive intervention study, we examined age of first tobacco use from sixth grade to age 18. Genetic data were collected during emerging adulthood and were genotyped using the Affymetrix 6.0 microarray. The polygenic score was computed using these data. Discrete-time survival analysis was employed to test for intervention main and interaction effects with the polygenic score. We found a main effect of the intervention, with the intervention participants reporting their first cigarette smoked at an age significantly later than controls. We also found an Intervention × Polygenic Score interaction, with participants at the higher end of the polygenic score benefitting the most from the intervention in terms of delayed age of first use. These results are consistent with Belsky and colleagues' (e.g., Belsky, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & van IJzendoorn, 2007; Belsky & Pleuss, 2009, 2013; Ellis, Boyce, Belsky, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & van IJzendoorn, 2011) differential susceptibility hypothesis and the concept of "for better or worse," wherein the expression of genetic variants are optimally realized in the context of an enriched environment, such as provided by a preventive intervention.

Prior research has indicated that the type-token ratio (TTR), a measure of repetition in language, correlates with clinical judgements of thought disorder when spoken language was examined, and differentiates statistically thought-disordered from non-thought-disordered schizophrenics and psychiatric and normal controls. We replicated this finding and examined the clinical sensitivity and specificity of the TTR measure in the diagnosis and in the assessment of thought disorder. The current clinical value of the TTR is limited, but further investigations of the nature of repetition in schizophrenic language are warranted.