AUTHOR=Giugliano Marco , Contrada Claudio , Foglia Ludovica , Francese Francesca , Romano Roberta , Dello Iacono Marilena , Di Fausto Eleonora , Esposito Mariateresa , Azzara Carla , Bilotta Elena , Carcione Antonino , Nicolò Giuseppe 

TITLE=Metacognitive Abilities as a Protective Factor for the Occurrence of Psychotic-Like Experiences in a Non-clinical Population

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.805435

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2022.805435

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) is a phenomenon which occurs in general population
experiencing delusional thoughts and hallucinations without being in a clinical condition. PLEs
involve erroneous attributions of inner cognitive events to the external environment and the
presence of intrusive thoughts influenced by dysfunctional beliefs; for these reasons, the role played
by metacognition was largely studied. This study investigates PLEs in non-clinical population and
discriminating factors involved in this kind of experiences, among which metacognition as well as
psychopathological features seems to have a crucial role. The aim of the present work was to extend
the knowledge about the relationship between metacognition, psychopathology, and PLEs, orienting
the focus on metacognitive functioning. The sample consisted of 207 Italian participants (M=32%,
F=68%) voluntarily recruited online, who gave consent to participate in the study. The average age of
the sample was 32.69 (SD 9.63; range 18-71). Subjects affected by psychosis, neurological disease, and drug addiction were excluded from the analyses. The following scales were used to investigate
PLEs: PDI, LSHS-E, PQ-B, RHS. In order to assess general psychopathological features, the scale
BASIS-32 was administrated. The Metacognition Self-Assessment Scale (MSAS) was chosen to
evaluate metacognitive functioning. From hierarchical regression analyses it emerged that the
presence of anxiety, depressive and impulsive/addictive symptoms constitute a remarkable
vulnerability factor for PLEs, in line with previous evidence regarding the relationship between
general psychopathology and PLEs. Metacognition negatively predicts PLEs and its presence does
not affect the significance of psychopathological variables, this suggests that metacognitive
abilities seem to play a protective role for the occurrence of PLEs among non-clinical individuals,
and such ability operates as an independent predictor along with other variables.