comparison of schizotypal dimensions according to the attachment patterns in students of tabriz university, iran

aim and background: insecure attachment style is one of the important effective factors in many mental disorders. the aim of this study was to compare the positive, negative and disorganized schizotypal characteristics in secure, avoidance and anxiety attachment patterns among students of tabriz university, iran. methods and materials: in this cross-sectional descriptive study 300 students (150 male, 150 female) from tabriz university were selected by random cluster sampling method. schizotypal personality questionnaire (spq) and adults attachment inventory (aai) scale were used for data collection. data was analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance (manova). findings: mean age of participants was 21 ± 1.28 years. there were significant differences between secure attachment, anxiety attachment and avoidant attachment groups in negative, positive, disorganized schizotypal characteristics and total score spq (p < 0.05). in contrast, there were no significant differences between anxiety attachment and avoidant attachment groups in negative, positive, disorganized schizotypal characteristics personality and total score spq (p > 0.05). conclusions: insecure avoidant attached individuals experience more intensity of negative, positive and disorganized schizotypal characteristics than secure attached individuals.however, there isn't significant difference between individual with avoidant and anxiety attachment in terms of severity of positive, negative, disorganized schizotypal characteristics. in sum, individual with insecure attachment are more vulnerable to experience the schizotypal characteristics and schizotypal personality disorder.