The dimensionality of dependent personality disorder

The criteria for dependent personality disorder (DPD) in DSM-IV appear to fall into two categories: dependent and attachment behaviors. The relevance of this division was evaluated in a sample of 182 patients admitted to a national Norwegian psychiatric hospital. Principal Components Analysis of all items belonging to the most frequent personality diagnoses revealed six components. The items for DPD formed two components, labeled attachment/abandonment and dependency/incompetence. Two criteria for borderline personality disorder also loaded on the attachment/abandonment component, while six criteria for avoidant personality disorder loaded on the dependency/incompetence component. Early Maladaptive Schemas of abandonment and failure correlated significantly higher with the attachment/abandonment component than with the dependency/incompetence component.