Zaccaria Valerio, Ardizzone Ignazio, Maggi Susanna, Forte Federica, Luchetti Emiliano, Piazza Elvira, Rogora Chiara, Pisani Francesco, Wong Keri Ka-Yee
Department of Human Neuroscience, University of Rome La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
6th district, Azienda Sanitaria Locale Roma 2, Rome, Italy.
Gen Psychiatr. 2025 Aug 12;38(4):e101975. doi: 10.1136/gpsych-2024-101975. eCollection 2025.
Paranoia exists in the general population, both in adults and in children, and is a key feature of schizotypy and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Attempts to develop child-appropriate tools to assess childhood suspiciousness and its correlation with developmental psychopathology are underdeveloped but crucial.
This study examines the prevalence and structure of childhood mistrust and its correlations with internalising and externalising problems in non-clinical and clinical samples using a newly validated Italian Social Mistrust Scale (SMS).
Children aged 8-14 years old from a non-clinical (n=242) and a clinical sample with anxiety and/or mood disorder (n=44) were recruited. All children completed the SMS and a standardised battery of tests measuring schizotypal traits, anxiety, depression and internalising/externalising problems.
The total Mistrust Score was positively skewed, with 50% of children scoring≤3 points and 15% scoring≥7 points. Factor analyses revealed a three-factor model (ie, General Mistrust, Home Mistrust and School Mistrust) replicating the original English SMS. As expected, childhood mistrust was positively correlated with schizotypal traits, anxiety and depression in the non-clinical sample (r=0.49, 0.42 and 0.54, respectively) and in the clinical sample (r=0.75, 0.51 and 0.85, respectively). Finally, the SMS showed an overall moderate internal reliability (α) in the non-clinical sample (α=0.74), and a good internal reliability in the clinical sample (α=0.83).
Consistent with previous studies, childhood mistrust-as measured by the newly translated Italian SMS-exists on a continuum of severity and is associated with higher levels of childhood psychopathology. Exploring social mistrust and suspiciousness in childhood can support clinicians and researchers, and could help develop preventive interventions during early development, particularly for children at risk of specific emotional and behavioural challenges.
偏执存在于普通人群中，包括成人和儿童，是分裂型人格障碍和精神分裂症谱系障碍的一个关键特征。开发适合儿童的工具来评估儿童期的猜疑及其与发展性精神病理学的相关性的尝试尚不完善，但至关重要。
本研究使用新验证的意大利社会不信任量表（SMS），考察非临床和临床样本中儿童期不信任的患病率、结构及其与内化和外化问题的相关性。
招募了来自非临床样本（n = 242）以及患有焦虑和/或情绪障碍的临床样本（n = 44）的8至14岁儿童。所有儿童均完成了SMS以及一组标准化测试，这些测试测量分裂型特质、焦虑、抑郁和内化/外化问题。
不信任总分呈正偏态分布，50%的儿童得分≤3分，15%的儿童得分≥7分。因素分析揭示了一个三因素模型（即一般不信任、家庭不信任和学校不信任），该模型复制了原始的英文SMS。正如预期的那样，儿童期不信任在非临床样本（分别为r = 0.49、0.42和0.54）和临床样本（分别为r = 0.75、0.51和0.85）中与分裂型特质、焦虑和抑郁呈正相关。最后，SMS在非临床样本中总体显示出中等的内部信度（α = 0.74），在临床样本中显示出良好的内部信度（α = 0.83）。
与先前的研究一致，通过新翻译的意大利SMS测量的儿童期不信任在严重程度上呈连续分布，并且与儿童期精神病理学水平较高相关。探索儿童期的社会不信任和猜疑可以为临床医生和研究人员提供支持，并有助于在早期发育阶段制定预防性干预措施，特别是针对有特定情绪和行为挑战风险的儿童。
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