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Fear of negative evaluation is associated with delusional ideation in non-clinical population and patients with schizophrenia

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Abstract

Purpose

A number of recent studies suggest that delusions may be explained as a continuum from normal beliefs. Fear of negative evaluation from others (FNE) is one of potential factors that might describe this psychological process of delusions.

Methods

In order to examine whether FNE is associated with delusional ideation in both non-clinical population and patients with schizophrenia, two sets of data [from a non-clinical student sample (n = 282) and from patients with schizophrenia (n = 117)] were collected to examine whether Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (BFNE) score and the 21-item Peters Delusions Inventory (PDI-21) score were associated with each other. Linear regression analyses were carried out to assess if the BFNE score still remained associated with the PDI-21 scores once the confounding effects of depression were controlled.

Results

BFNE scores were significantly related to PDI-21 scores in both non-clinical [Pearson product–moment correlation coefficient (r) = 0.37, 95% confidence Interval (CI) = 0.25–0.48] and patient (r = 0.33, 95% CI = 0.14–0.49) samples. These associations were still significant when confounding effects of depression were controlled. Standardised coefficients for the BFNE scores in the linear regression model were 0.21 in the student sample and 0.19 in the clinical sample.

Conclusions

FNE was associated with delusional ideation both in non-clinical population and in patients with schizophrenia. FNE might be a potential target for both pharmacological and psychological interventions for patients with delusions.

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Acknowledgments

This study is a part of YK’s PhD thesis. This work was supported by Overseas Research Students Awards Scheme, the Glaxo SmithKline International Scholarship and the Nitto Foundation. We wish to thank Drs Hideyoshi Hara, Atsushi Ito and Takao Senju (Kusunoki Mental Hospital) for their substantial contribution to this study. We would also like to acknowledge Drs Makoto Tanaka (Minamichita Hospital) and Chikao Kohno (Yagoto Hospital) for their kind support.

Conflicts of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interests with respect to this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

    Yoshihiro Kinoshita, David Kingdon & Kuni Kinoshita

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Cognitive-Behavioral Medicine, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, 1 Kawasumi, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, 467-8601, Japan

    Yoshihiro Kinoshita, Kuni Kinoshita, Shutaro Nakaaki & Toshi A. Furukawa

  3. Division of Integrated Herbal Medicine, Nihon University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    Yuko Kinoshita & Kazuma Saka

  4. Department of Pharmaceutical Science, Nihon Pharmaceutical University, Tokyo, Japan

    Yuko Kinoshita & Yumiko Arisue

  5. Hampshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Southampton, UK

    David Dayson

  6. Minamichita Hospital, Minamichita, Japan

    Koji Fukuda

  7. Kusunoki Mental Hospital, Nagoya, Japan

    Keiko Yoshida

  8. Public Health Sciences and Medical Statistics, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

    Scott Harris

Authors
  1. Yoshihiro Kinoshita
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  2. David Kingdon
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  3. Kuni Kinoshita
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  12. Toshi A. Furukawa
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Correspondence to Kuni Kinoshita.

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Kinoshita, Y., Kingdon, D., Kinoshita, K. et al. Fear of negative evaluation is associated with delusional ideation in non-clinical population and patients with schizophrenia. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 46, 703–710 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-010-0237-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-010-0237-8

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