Toward a Complex Network of Risks for Psychosis: Combining Trauma, Cognitive Biases, Depression, and Psychotic-like Experiences on a Large Sample of Young Adults

Abstract

Although the linkage between traumatic life events and psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) is well established, the knowledge of potential mechanisms of this relationship is scarce. The aim of the present study was to better understand the structure of connections between traumatic life events and PLEs by considering at the same time the role of cognitive biases and depressive symptoms in the population of young adults (18-35 years of age, M = 26.52, SD = 4.74, n = 6772). Our study was conducted within a framework of network analysis. PLEs were measured with the Prodromal Questionnaire (PQ-16), cognitive biases were measured with nine items from the Davos Assessment of Cognitive Biases Scale-1..