Taxometric analyses of borderline personality features in a large-scale male and female offender sample

Few studies to date have examined the extent to which borderline personality features are best construed as representing an underlying dimension or a discrete class or taxon. The authors conducted taxometric analyses using a large-scale sample of male (n=787) and female (n=368) prison inmates who had completed the Personality Assessment Inventory (L. C. Morey, 2007). Analyses based on the 4 subscales of the Borderline Features Scale offered compelling support for a dimensional structure in both the full sample and the female subsample--even after controlling for the potentially confounding effects of negative response distortion. Theoretical and pragmatic implications of these findings are reviewed.