An exploration of links between early parenting experiences and personality disorder type and disordered personality functioning

Reports of early parenting were assessed using two measures, the Parental Bonding Index (PBI) and the Measure of Parenting Style (MOPS), in a sample of 265 patients with DSM-defined major depressive disorder. Psychiatrists then rated the extent to which sample members evidenced the personality "styles" underpinning 15 separate personality disorders, returning personality vignette scores. The extent of disordered functioning was also assessed across "parameters" and "domains" by psychiatrists, referrers, and family members, using a range of measures. Those with higher scores on vignettes measuring borderline, anxious, depressive, and self-defeating personality style rated parents as uncaring, overcontrolling, and abusive. When vignettes were consolidated into scores akin to the DSM clusters, the most consistent links between perceived dysfunctional parenting were with the Cluster C (anxious), and Cluster B (dramatic) styles and were nonsignificant for Cluster A (eccentric) style. Meeting criteria for an increasing number of personality disorder clusters was associated with increasing levels of adverse parenting. Multiple regression analyses indicated that disordered functioning (as assessed by the three independent rater groups) was most distinctly associated with paternal indifference and maternal overcontrol.     

Severity Indices of Personality Problems (SIPP-118) in adolescents: reliability and validity

The Severity Indices of Personality Problems (SIPP-118; Verheul et al., 2008) is a self-report questionnaire focusing on core components of (mal)adaptive personality functioning. The SIPP-118 was developed and validated in an adult population. In adult populations, the 16 facets of the SIPP-118 fit into 5 higher order domains: self-control, identity integration, relational capacities, social concordance, and responsibility. In this study we present the 1st psychometric properties of the SIPP-118 in adolescents. We compared the SIPP-118 scores of a patient and a nonpatient sample of adolescents, and compared personality disordered and non-personality disordered adolescents. In addition, the relationship between scores on the SIPP-118 and other clinical instruments (Symptom Checklist-90-Revised; SCL-90-R; Derogatis, 1975; Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology-Basic Personality; DAPP-BQ; Livesley & Jackson, 2002) was investigated. The questionnaires were completed by 378 adolescent patients and 389 adolescents in the community. Facets appeared to be homogeneous, as alpha coefficients ranged from .62 to .89, indicating moderate to acceptable reliability. Also, more pathological SIPP-118 scores were found in the patient sample, and more specifically in the personality disordered sample, suggesting that the facet scores of the SIPP-118 can discriminate between various populations (divergent validity). Correlation with other clinical instruments was moderate to high (-.82 to .10). Taken together, the SIPP-118 seems to be a promising instrument measuring personality pathology in adolescents.     

Personality disorder correspondence between the million behavioral health inventory (MBHI) and the minnesota multiphasic personality inventory (MMPI)

The MBHI and MMPI personality disorder scales were analyzed for convergent and discriminant validity. Correlational data demonstrated that six of the eight scales were significantly related, while the remaining two scales approached significance. Further analyses of these data, however, demonstrated that none of the scales correlated significantly better with its convergent scale compared to nonconvergent scales. The MBHI classified significantly more of the sample as personality disordered (93%) compared to the MMPI personality disorder scales (17%). Furthermore, the MBHI tended to describe the sample as falling within the Anxious cluster of personality disorders, whereas the MMPI described them within the Dramatic cluster. Single scale codetype correspondence was found to be 15%, while two-point concordance was 12.5%, indicating very low congruence between personality style codetypes. These two measures do not appear to be measuring the same personality style constructs.     

Impulsivity,self-control,and hypnotic suggestibility

Hypnotic responding might be due to attenuated frontal lobe functioning after the hypnotic induction. Little is known about whether personality traits linked with frontal functioning are associated with responsiveness to hypnotic suggestions. We assessed whether hypnotic suggestibility is related to the traits of self-control and impulsivity in 154 participants who completed the Brief Self-Control Scale, the Self-Regulation Scale, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), and the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (HGSHS:A). BIS-11 non-planning impulsivity correlated positively with HGSHS:A (Bonferroni-corrected). Furthermore, in the best model emerging from a stepwise multiple regression, both non-planning impulsivity and self-control positively predicted hypnotic suggestibility, and there was an interaction of BIS-11 motor impulsivity with gender. For men only, motor impulsivity tended to predict hypnotic suggestibility. Hypnotic suggestibility is associated with personality traits linked with frontal functioning, and hypnotic responding in men and women might differ.     

Levels and Domains In Personality: An Introduction

ABSTRACT This special issue is centered around the problem of levels and domains in personality functioning. What kind of constructs—and at what levels and in what domains—are needed to understand what a person is like? To account for the complexity and scope of human lives, personality psychologists have traditionally put forth lists and taxonomies of factors, features, and variables that must be taken into consideration in formulating an adequate psychological portrait of the whole person. The five-factor model of personality traits has recently been offered as a comprehensive framework; however, critical analyses of the trait concept have revealed the limitations of a trait-based model of personality. Recognizing that the concept of trait is indispensable to a vital psychology of personality, this special issue aims to (a) communicate recent developments and organizational frameworks for understanding the person at multiple levels and in varied domains, and (b) articulate and elaborate units of analysis that, when combined with trait assessments, yield a psychology of personality that is commensurate with the complexity of individual functioning and that offers greater potential for the attainment of the original goals of the discipline.     

Searching for a Vulnerable Dark Triad: Comparing Factor 2 Psychopathy,Vulnerable Narcissism,and Borderline Personality Disorder

ABSTRACT Paulhus and Williams (2002) identified a “Dark Triad” comprising the following related personality styles: narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism. The heterogeneity found in narcissism and psychopathy raises the possibility of a second triad made up of emotional vulnerability and dark traits (i.e., the vulnerable dark triad; VDT). Along with vulnerable narcissism and Factor 2 psychopathy, the third member of the hypothesized VDT is borderline personality disorder (BPD). Using a sample of 361 undergraduates, we examine the relations between these constructs and their relations with criterion variables, including personality, environmental etiological factors (e.g., abuse), and current functioning (e.g., psychopathology, affect). The results suggest that the VDT constructs are significantly related to one another and manifest similar nomological networks, particularly vulnerable narcissism and BPD. Although the VDT members are related to negative emotionality and antagonistic interpersonal styles, they are also related to introversion and disinhibition. Ultimately, it seems there is a “dark continuum” of pathological personality traits that differ primarily in relation to negative and positive emotionality and disinhibition.     

Assessing DSM–5 Level of Personality Functioning From Videotaped Clinical Interviews: A Pilot Study With Untrained and Clinically Inexperienced Students

Several authors have raised the concern that the DSM–5 Level of Personality Functioning Scale (LPFS) is relatively complex and theory laden, and thus might put high requirements on raters. We addressed this concern by having 22 untrained and clinically inexperienced students assess the personality functioning of 10 female psychotherapy inpatients from videotaped clinical interviews, using a multi-item version of the LPFS. Individual raters’ LPFS total scores showed acceptable interrater reliability, and were significantly associated with 2 distinct expert-rated measures of the severity of personality pathology. These findings suggest that, contrary to the previously mentioned concerns, successfully applying the LPFS to clinical cases might require neither extensive clinical experience nor training.     

Personality prototypes in eating disorders based on the Big Five model

A three factor model of personality pathology was investigated in a clinical sample of 335 female eating disordered patients. Cluster analysis of the Big Five NEO-FFI scales (Costa & McCrae, 1992) yielded three distinct personality profiles, which were consistent with previous studies: (1) a resilient/high functioning cluster with no clinical elevations on the NEO-FFI scales; (2) an undercontrolled/emotionally dysregulated cluster with elevated scores on the Neuroticism scale and low scores on Conscientiousness and Agreeableness; (3) an overcontrolled/constricted cluster showing high scores on Neuroticism and Conscientiousness and low scores on Openness to Experience. Comparing the three personality prototypes with respect to Axis I and Axis II disorders,resilients reported systematically less clinical and personality problems than both undercontrollers and overcontrollers. Compared to the latter, undercontrollers showed more impulsive personality features and behaviors. Finally, cluster membership was not clearly associated with eating disorder subtypes, suggesting that there is considerable variance in personality features and/or pathology within the various eating disorder categories.     

The basic trait of Antagonism: An unfortunately underappreciated construct

Antagonism, the low pole of Agreeableness, references traits related to immorality, combativeness, grandiosity, callousness, and distrustfulness. It is a robust correlate of externalizing behaviors such as antisocial behavior, aggression, and substance use; in fact, in many cases, it is the strongest trait correlate. It represents the core of many important and impactful psychopathological constructs (e.g., psychopathy, antisocial and narcissistic personality disorders). It is also central to models of general and disordered personality, psychopathology, and interpersonal behavior. As Neuroticism is core to understanding the intense distress and suffering that comes with internalizing disorders, Antagonism is core to understanding the impairment and suffering (to the individual and society at large) that comes with externalizing disorders.     

Sex Role Identity, Androgyny, and Sex Role Transcendence: A Sex Role Strain Analysis

This paper first reviews three different theoretical constructs concerning the psychological significance of sex role related characteristics in personality functioning: sex role identity, androgyny, and sex role transcendence. A new conceptual analysis concerning sex-typing, sex role strain analysis, is presented. According to this analysis, the relationship between sex role related personality characteristics and psychological adjustment, especially self-esteem, is moderated by two variables: perception of the ideal member of the same sex, and sex role salience. These two variables', taken in conjunction with real self-concept, generate five sex role strain outcomes. The constructs of sex role identity, androgyny, and sex role transcendence are interpreted in terms of this sex role strain analysis. The implications of this analysis for current research and for understanding the dynamics of both individual and social change in sex roles are briefly described.     

Shared, not unique, components of personality and psychosocial functioning predict depression severity after acute-phase cognitive therapy

In a sample of 100 patients with recurrent major depression, we collected depression severity data early and late in acute-phase cognitive therapy, plus a wide range of psychosocial variables that have been studied extensively in depression research, including measures of interpersonal, cognitive, and social functioning, and personality traits using an inventory that is linked with the Big-Three tradition in personality assessment theory. By assessing this broad range of variables in a single study, we could examine the extent to which relations of these variables with depression were due to (a) a common factor shared across this diverse set of constructs, (b) factors shared among each type of construct (personality vs. psychosocial measures), or (c) specific aspects of the individual measures. Only the most general factor shared across the personality and psychosocial variables predicted later depression.     

Sexual trauma and personality: developmental vulnerability and additive effects.

Two types of sexual trauma, sexual abuse in childhood and rape in adulthood, were investigated in terms of possible effects on personality. Four groups of participants were studied: women who had experienced sexual abuse in childhood, women who had experienced rape as adults, women who had experienced both of these sexual traumas, and a control group of women who had experienced no sexual trauma. Personality functioning was assessed using the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology. Groups who had experienced childhood sexual abuse displayed the highest degree of personality disturbance; however, the additive effects of repeated sexual trauma were limited. These findings may reflect the outcome of specific adversity in childhood on the psychobiological constructs underlying personality.     

General and specific traits of personality and their relation to sleep and academic performance

Few studies have examined the links between personality variables and sleep and their combined effect on specific real-world outcomes. Participants in this study completed numerous personality, sleep, and performance measures; we examined the associations among these measures. Personality was assessed using the Five-Factor Model. The personality trait of Conscientiousness (especially its facet of Achievement Striving) was a substantial predictor of academic performance. Analyses of the sleep variables revealed three distinct constructs: quantity, quality, and schedule. Sleep quantity showed few interesting correlates. In contrast, sleep quality was associated with greater well-being and improved psychological functioning, whereas sleep schedule (i.e., average rising and retiring times) was significantly related to Conscientiousness, such that conscientious individuals maintain earlier schedules.     

Multisurface Interpersonal Assessment in a Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Context

The interpersonal paradigm of personality assessment provides a rich nomological net for describing and assessing constructs of interpersonal functioning. The aim of this article is to demonstrate for clinicians how the use of a multisurface interpersonal assessment (MSIA) battery can augment psychotherapy (e.g., cognitive-behavioral therapy). We present 2 clinical case examples and specify interpretative guidelines for MSIA that integrate multiple circumplex profiles (e.g., problems, traits, sensitivities, strengths, values, and efficacies) for each patient. Subsequently, we demonstrate how this approach provides a context to better understand patient symptoms and difficulties, and discuss how it can inform case conceptualization, treatment planning, and intervention.     

Attachment,parental bonding and borderline personality disorder features in young adults

The relations between parental bonding and attachment constructs and borderline personality disorder features were examined in a sample of 393 18-year-old participants. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that parental bonding and attachment scores (especially insecure attachment, anxious or ambivalent attachment, and a perception of a relative lack of caring from one's mother) were uniquely associated with borderline features beyond what could be accounted for by gender, childhood adversity experiences, Axis I disorder, and nonborderline Axis II symptoms. Although relatively modest, these relations suggest that bonding and attachment constructs might be considered in comprehensive etiological models of borderline personality disorder.