The study of compulsive hoarding in male and female students with high schizotypal traits

Compulsive hoarding is considered as a subtype of obsessive compulsive disorder. Schizotypy, on the other hand, has been reported to be prevalent in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. With these considerations in mind, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the frequency of compulsive hoarding in people with high schizotypal traits. Method & Materials: A group of 454 participants were screened using schizotypal personality scale. Thirty-one participants with schizotypal personality traits were enrolled in the case group. The control group also consisted of thirty-one non-schizotypal participants. Saving Inventory-Revised was administered to participants in both groups. Data was analyzed using the two-way Analysis of Co-Variance. Results revealed that compared with the control group, the group with schizotypal traits had a higher mean score of hoarding behaviors. Also there was found a gender effect in this regard i.e. females with high traits of schizotypy were characterized by higher scores on compulsive hoarding scale compared to males with the same traits. Results add some more evidence about the correlation between obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizotypal personality traits.