Self-reported interpersonal and educational/vocational difficulties in young adults with a history of transient psychotic experiences: findings from a population-based study

Background Psychotic experiences (PEs) are not uncommon in young people and are associated with both psychopathology and compromised global functioning. Although psychotic experiences are transient (short-lived, self-resolving and non-recurring) for most people who report them, few studies have examined the association between early transient PEs and later functioning in population samples. Additionally, studies using self-report measures of interpersonal and educational/ vocational difficulties are lacking. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between transient psychotic experiences and self-reported interpersonal and educational/vocational difficulties in adolescence and young adulthood. Methods Participants were 103 young people from a longitudinal population-based study cohort of mental health in Ireland. They attended for baseline clinical interviews in childhood (age 11–13) and were followed up in young adulthood (age 19–25). Participants who reported psychotic experiences at baseline but not at follow-up were classified as having transient psychotic experiences. Data from both time-points were used to examine the association between transient psychotic experiences and self-reported interpersonal and educational/ vocational difficulties in young adulthood using poisson regression modelling. Results Young people with a history of transient psychotic experiences reported significantly higher interpersonal (adj IRR: 1.83, 95%ileCI: 1.10–3.02, p = .02) and educational/vocational (adj IRR: 2.28, 95%ileCI: 1.43–3.64, p = .001) difficulties during adolescence. However, no significant differences in interpersonal (adj IRR: 0.49, 95%ileCI: 0.10–2.30, p = .37) or educational/vocational (adj IRR: 0.88, 95%ileCI: 0.37–2.08, p = .77) difficulties were found in young adulthood. Self-reported interpersonal and educational/vocational difficulties in young people both with and without a history of transient psychotic experiences decreased between adolescence and young adulthood. Conclusions Young people with transient psychotic experiences have increased interpersonal and educational/vocational difficulties in adolescence but these may not persist into the young adult years. This finding indicates that early psychotic experiences may not confer high risk for long-term interpersonal or educational/vocational deficits among young people who experience these phenomena transiently.