Perseverative Cognition and Psychotic-Like Experiences in Young Adults: A Cross-Lagged Panel Model

psychotic-like experiences (PLEs), including persecutory ideation, bizarre experiences, and perceptual abnormalities, are considered risk factors for psychotic disorders and mental distress in the general population. the cognitive-affective mechanisms associated with PLEs remain under-investigated. we aimed to longitudinally assess the reciprocal associations between perseverative cognition (PC), an emerging transdiagnostic factor of psychopathology, and PLEs facets in young adults. participants (n = 160) from the general population completed measures of PC and PLEs at baseline and at 2-month follow-up. a two-wave, three-variable, cross-lagged panel model was implemented controlling for well-established correlates of PC and PLEs such as depression, anxiety, and symptoms of sleep disturbance. both PLEs and PC exhibited substantive rank-order stability (β ranged from 0.359 to 0.657, ps < 0.001). cross-lagged effects revealed that baseline PC was associated with bizarre experiences at 2-month follow-up (β = 0.317; p < 0.01). this effect overcame the well-established cut-off for practical significance. In contrast, no baseline PLEs were associated with PC at follow-up. findings suggest the presence of a monodirectional, rather than bidirectional, association between PC and bizarre experiences in young adulthood. results should be interpreted in light of the relatively small, non-clinical, and convenient sample.