Investigating empathy in schizotypy.

Abstract

Though empathy is a critical component of adaptive psychosocial functioning, the relationship between schizotypy, conceived of as the latent liability for schizophrenia, and empathy is unclear. Given the centrality of psychosocial functioning impairments in schizophrenia-related psychopathology, along with the critical role of empathy in the social processes aspect of the Research Domain Criteria Matrix, the relation between empathy and schizotypy should be illuminated. The lack of clarity regarding empathy is in part due to both differences in defining empathy and the relations empathy measures have with different subcomponents of schizotypy. Furthermore, both empathy and schizotypy likely impact psychosocial functioning. The current study aims to better understand the relations between empathy, schizotypy, and psychosocial functioning. This report examines the self-report data drawn from emerging adults who completed a battery of empathy, schizotypy, and social functioning measures (n = 834). Findings demonstrate a complex relation between empathy and schizotypy but coalesce primarily around a negative (inverse) relation between negative features of schizotypy and empathy. Factor analytic results suggest a two-component latent structure for empathy consisting of cognitive and affective domains. Each factor of empathy appears to be negatively associated with negative schizotypal traits. Moderation analyses reveal that both cognitive and affective empathy moderate the relation between negative schizotypy and social functioning. Altogether, the present study demonstrates the interconnectedness of negative schizotypy, empathy, and social functioning. Findings are broadly consistent with previous research considering the relation between schizophrenia and empathy, highlighting the utility of studying schizophrenia liability (i.e., schizotypy). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).