Psychotic-like experiences in the adolescent general population

Objective. The main purpose of this study was to analyze the distribution of psychotic-like experiences in nonclinical adolescents. Likewise, we studied in depth the role of gender and age in phenotypal expression of these symptoms. Method. A total of 1438 adolescents entered the study, 691 (48.1%) were men, with a mean age of 15.9 years (SD = 1.2). Results. The results indicated that attenuated psychotic symptoms are a very common phenomenon in this age group, since 43% of the sample reported symptoms belonging to magical thinking, ideas of reference, and/or delusion or hallucination experiences, and 8.9% reported 4 or more psychotic-like experiences. Statistical significant differences were found in ideas of reference and paranoid ideation between genders, but not among age groups. Conclusion. Our results coincide with those found in previous studies and have clear implications for a better understanding of these psychological phenomena in the framework cif developmental psychopathology, and for the implementation of early detection and prevention programs in the population sector.