the relationship between multiple dimensions of schizotypy and obsessive-compulsive symptoms: the mediating role of inferential confusion

Objective: the relationship between obsessive-compulsive and schizotypal symptoms hasbeen repeatedly mentioned in various studies, but the exact pattern of this relationship isstill unclear. recently, the inference-based approach (iba) tries to explain this relationshipthrough inferential confusion (ic). this study aimed to determine the mediating role ofinferential confusion in the relationship between different dimensions of schizotypy andobsessive-compulsive symptoms (ocs).methods: the study sample consisted of 341 (158 men and 183 women) university studentsof shahed university, tehran, iran. participants were randomly selected by cluster samplingmethod and completed schizotypal personality questionnaire-brief (spq-b), inferentialconfusion questionnaire-expanded version (icq-ev), and obsessive-compulsive inventory-revised (oci-r). the proposed model was examined by structural equation modeling (sem).results: model fit indices (gfi=0.91, rmsea=0.04, x2/df=1.54) indicated good fit. resultsshowed that among the three dimensions of schizotypy, only the direct effect of positiveschizotypy on obsessive-compulsive symptoms (β=0.60, p<0.001) and inferential confusion(β=0.64, p<0.001) were statistically significant. also, bootstrap method showed that only theindirect effect of positive schizotypy on ocs was statistically significant [ci(95%)= 0.01-0.25].conclusion: consistent with previous findings, it seems that the relationship between ocsand schizotypy is meaningful along the positive dimension of schizotypy and inferentialconfusion can explain this relationship to some extent.