The convergent and discriminant validity of five-factor traits: current and prospective social, work, and recreational dysfunction

Personality Functioning, Problems in Living, and Personality Traits

The publication of the Alternative Model of Personality Disorder (AMPD) was a signpost achievement in the personality assessment. However, research on the AMPD has generally not led to either a deeper understanding of personality disorder or personality assessment or new ideas about how to provide better care for people with personality disorder diagnoses. A significant portion of research has focused on narrow issues and appears to be driven in part by ideological differences between scholars who prefer Criterion A (personality functioning) or Criterion B (maladaptive traits). I trace these issues to ambiguity about the concept of personality functioning as defined in the AMPD and its conceptual distinction from personality traits and problems in living. In this paper, I reground these concepts in coherent and distinct definitions, elaborate upon the implications of their differences, and show how these differences can help clarify and reorient AMPD research to focus on generating clinically useful models for personality pathology and personality assessment.

Perceived overqualification? Examining its nexus with cyberloafing and knowledge hiding behaviour: harmonious passion as a moderator

Purpose

This study aims to assess the nexus between perceived overqualification (POQ), anger, knowledge hiding, cyberloafing and harmonious passion (HP).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors obtained 264 responses from two public traded firms in Pakistan using a supervisor-subordinated nested design and a multi-time data collecting strategy using convenience sampling.

Findings

The study results indicate that POQ positively affects knowledge hiding and cyberloafing. The authors also found anger as a potential mediator in the direct association between POQ and cyberloafing. In addition, the findings suggest that the association between POQ, knowledge hiding and cyberloafing will be weak when individuals exhibit HP towards their job roles. The results of this research, when considered as a whole, provided support for all of the hypothesised direct and indirect linkages, which has important ramifications for both theory and practise.

Research limitations/implications

This study has both theoretical and practical implications. Grounded on equity theory and relative deprivation theory, this paper asserts that HP should be used to decrease POQ affect. According to the authors, pro-environment employee actions may help build a pro-environment workplace culture as well as a pro-environment sense of responsibility, both of which can help to achieve significant pro-environment results.

Originality/value

This study builds on and fills in the gaps left by earlier research to better aid organisational researchers, practitioners and stakeholders in understanding how POQ, rage, information concealing, cyberloafing and harmonic passion interact with one another.

The association between personality traits and hoarding behaviors

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Hoarding is a behavior that occurs across a variety of disorders, including hoarding disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and schizophrenia. Hoarding is also a normative human behavior within certain contexts, including the recent coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, when individuals became panicked about the availability of products such as toilet paper and antibacterial wipes. Previous research suggests that personality traits and personality disorder symptoms may be linked with hoarding behaviors. The purpose of this review is to provide a snapshot of recent research on hoarding and personality.

RECENT FINDINGS

Most recent research on this topic has focused on hoarding behaviors as the action of stockpiling goods during a pandemic. Research on this area was mixed with regard to extraversion and openness but was strongly suggestive of a link between stockpiling behaviors and increased neuroticism. Hoarding in the context of OCD was linked with lower levels of both extraversion and conscientiousness. Patients with hoarding disorder almost universally have clinically elevated levels of personality disorder traits.

SUMMARY

The directions of observed associations between five-factor model personality traits and hoarding behaviors differ across diagnostic and geographic contexts. Additional research is needed with participants who meet diagnostic criteria for hoarding disorder.

The Relationship Between Maladaptive Personality and Social Role Impairment in Depressed Older Adults in Primary Care

Objective: Personality pathology is associated with impaired social functioning in adults, though further evidence is needed to examine the individual contributions of personality traits and processes to social functioning in depressed older adults. This study is a secondary analysis examining the relationship between maladaptive personality traits and processes and social role impairment in depressed older adults in primary care. Methods: Participants (N = 56) were 77% female and ranged in age between 55-89 (M = 66.82, SD = 8.75). Personality pathology was measured by maladaptive traits (NEO-FFI) and processes (Inventory of Interpersonal Problems; IIP-PD-15). Individual variable as well as combined predictive models of social role impairment were examined. Results: Higher neuroticism (β = 0.30, p < .05), lower agreeableness (β = -0.35 p < .001) and higher IIP-PD-15 (β = 0.28, p < .01) scores predicted greater impairment in social role functioning. A combined predictive model of neuroticism and IIP-PD-15 scores predicted unique variance in social role impairment (R² = .71). Conclusion: These results link select personality traits and interpersonal processes to social role impairment, suggesting that these are indicators of personality pathology in older adults. Clinical Implications: These findings lend preliminary support for clinical screening of personality pathology in depressed older adults utilizing both personality trait and process measures.

Right Posterior Insula and Putamen Volume Mediate the Effect of Oxytocin Receptor Polygenic Risk for Autism Spectrum Disorders on Reward Dependence in Healthy Adults

Much evidence indicates the influence of the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene on autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), a set of disorders characterized by a range of deficits in prosocial behaviors, which are closely related to the personality trait of reward dependence (RD). However, we do not know the effect of the OXTR polygenic risk score for ASDs (OXTR-PRSASDs) on RD and its underlying neuroanatomical substrate. Here, we aimed to investigate associations among the OXTR-PRSASDs, gray matter volume (GMV), and RD in two independent datasets of healthy young adults (n = 450 and 540). We found that the individuals with higher OXTR-PRSASDs had lower RD and significantly smaller GMV in the right posterior insula and putamen. The GMV of this region showed a positive correlation with RD and a mediation effect on the association between OXTR-PRSASDs and RD. Moreover, the correlation map between OXTR-PRSASDs and GMV showed spatial correlation with OXTR gene expression. All results were highly consistent between the two datasets. These findings highlight a possible neural pathway by which the common variants in the OXTR gene associated with ASDs may jointly impact the GMV of the right posterior insula and putamen and further affect the personality trait of RD.

Borderline personality disorder traits and suicide risk: The mediating role of insomnia and nightmares

BACKGROUND

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with high rates of suicide risk and problems related to sleep, including insomnia and nightmares. The purpose of the current study was to assess the potential indirect effect of BPD traits on suicide risk through both/either insomnia and nightmares.

METHODS

Participants (N = 281) were recruited via Amazon's Mechanical Turk to complete the study remotely online. Participants completed measures of BPD traits and symptoms, suicide risk (history of suicidal thoughts and behaviors), insomnia symptoms, and distress and impairment related to nightmares.

RESULTS

BPD traits and symptoms were moderately to highly correlated to suicide risk, insomnia, and nightmares. In parallel mediation models, BPD traits had a significant indirect effect on suicide risk through insomnia symptoms but not nightmares.

LIMITATIONS

The current study assessed problems within the general population and not in a clinical sample. Second, the study relied solely on self-report measures. Futures studies would benefit from investigating these relations in clinical samples utilizing observer-report and interview methods.

CONCLUSIONS

BPD traits appear to relate to increased risk for suicide through the relation with sleep concerns, particularly insomnia symptoms. Therefore, assessing and treating sleep problems within individuals with BPD may result in a lower risk for suicide.

Childhood malnutrition and maltreatment are linked with personality disorder symptoms in adulthood: Results from a Barbados lifespan cohort

Both childhood malnutrition and maltreatment are associated with mental health problems that can persist into adulthood. Previously we reported that in Barbados, those with a history of infant malnutrition were more likely to report having experienced childhood maltreatment. Few studies, however, address the long-term outcomes of those who have been exposed to both. We assessed the unique and combined associations of a history of early malnutrition and childhood maltreatment with personality pathology in mid-adulthood in participants of the 47-year longitudinal Barbados Nutrition Study. We used the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Axis II Personality Disorders Personality Questionnaire (SCID-II-PQ) and NEO Personality Inventory-Revised derived Five-Factor Model (NEO PI-R FFM) personality disorder (PD) scores to assess personality pathology, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF) to assess childhood maltreatment, and clinical documentation of malnutrition in infancy. We tested the associations of malnutrition and maltreatment with PD scores using linear regression models, unadjusted and adjusted for other childhood adversities. We found increased scores for paranoid, schizoid, avoidant, and dependent PDs among those who had been malnourished and increased scores for paranoid, schizoid, schizotypal, and avoidant PDs among those with higher childhood maltreatment scores. Overall, those exposed to both adversities had even greater PD scores.

Meta-analysis of Big Five personality traits in autism spectrum disorder

The present meta-analysis synthesizes the emerging literature on the relationship of Big Five personality traits to autism spectrum disorder. Studies were included if they (1) either (a) measured autism spectrum disorder characteristics using a metric that yielded a single score quantification of the magnitude of autism spectrum disorder characteristics and/or (b) studied individuals with an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis compared to individuals without an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis and (2) measured Big Five traits in the same sample or samples. Fourteen reviewed studies include both correlational analyses and group comparisons. Eighteen effect sizes per Big Five trait were used to calculate two overall effect sizes per trait. Meta-analytic effects were calculated using random effects models. Twelve effects (per trait) from nine studies reporting correlations yielded a negative association between each Big Five personality trait and autism spectrum disorder characteristics (Fisher's z ranged from -.21 (conscientiousness) to -.50 (extraversion)). Six group contrasts (per trait) from six studies comparing individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder to neurotypical individuals were also substantial (Hedges' g ranged from -.88 (conscientiousness) to -1.42 (extraversion)). The potential impact of personality on important life outcomes and new directions for future research on personality in autism spectrum disorder are discussed in light of results.

Impact of personality pathology on psychosocial functioning

Personality disorders impair social, occupational, leisure, and global functioning more than a significant disorder such as major depressive disorder. Impairment is found in clinical and community populations. Impairment is independent of co-occurring other mental disorders. Impairment is more stable over time than are the diagnoses themselves. Personality traits are also impairing and may be more predictive of outcomes over time, but a hybrid of personality disorder features and normal range personality traits may be the most predictive model. A general, 'transdiagnostic,' self-other severity factor may be important for understanding the relationship of personality pathology and psychosocial functioning over time. The Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders may be useful for the study of psychosocial functioning in individuals with personality pathology.

Contours of a causal feedback mechanism between adaptive personality and psychosocial function in patients with personality disorders: a secondary analysis from a randomized clinical trial

BACKGROUND

Patients with personality disorders commonly exhibit impairment in psychosocial function that persists over time even with diagnostic remission. Further causal knowledge may help to identify and assess factors with a potential to alleviate this impairment. Psychosocial function is associated with personality functioning which describes personality disorder severity in DSM-5 (section III) and which can reportedly be improved by therapy.

METHODS

The reciprocal association between personality functioning and psychosocial function was assessed, in 113 patients with different personality disorders, in a secondary longitudinal analysis of data from a randomized clinical trial, over six years. Personality functioning was represented by three domains of the Severity Indices of Personality Problems: Relational Capacity, Identity Integration, and Self-control. Psychosocial function was measured by Global Assessment of Functioning. The marginal structural model was used for estimation of causal effects of the three personality functioning domains on psychosocial function, and vice versa. The attractiveness of this model lies in the ability to assess an effect of a time - varying exposure on an outcome, while adjusting for time - varying confounding.

RESULTS

Strong causal effects were found. A hypothetical intervention to increase Relational Capacity by one standard deviation, both at one and two time-points prior to assessment of psychosocial function, would increase psychosocial function by 3.5 standard deviations (95% CI: 2.0, 4.96). Significant effects of Identity Integration and Self-control on psychosocial function, and from psychosocial function on all three domains of personality functioning, although weaker, were also found.

CONCLUSION

This study indicates that persistent impairment in psychosocial function can be addressed through a causal pathway of personality functioning, with interventions of at least 18 months duration.

Does personality influence job acquisition and tenure in people with severe mental illness enrolled in supported employment programs?

BACKGROUND

When employment difficulties in people with severe mental illness (SMI) occur, it could be partly linked to issues not specific to SMI, such as personality traits or problems. Despite the fact that personality has a marked influence on almost every aspect of work behavior, it has scarcely been investigated in the context of employment for people with SMI.

AIMS

We aimed to evaluate if personality was more predictive than clinical variables of different competitive work outcomes, namely acquisition of competitive employment, delay to acquisition and job tenure.

METHOD

A sample of 82 people with a SMI enrolled in supported employment programs (SEP) was recruited and asked to complete various questionnaires and interviews. Statistical analyses included logistic regressions and survival analyses (Cox regressions).

RESULTS

Prior employment, personality problems and negative symptoms are significantly related to acquisition of a competitive employment and to delay to acquisition whereas the conscientiousness personality trait was predictive of job tenure.

CONCLUSION

Our results point out the relevance of personality traits and problems as predictors of work outcomes in people with SMI registered in SEP. Future studies should recruit larger samples and also investigate these links with other factors related to work outcomes.

Optimizing Prediction of Psychosocial and Clinical Outcomes With a Transdiagnostic Model of Personality Disorder

Transdiagnostic models hold promise for transforming research and treatment practices for personality disorders (PDs), but widespread acceptance and implementation of such approaches will require persuasive evidence of construct validity and clinical utility. Toward that end, the authors examined the criterion-related validity of a transdiagnostic PD model in relation to psychosocial and clinical outcomes in a high-risk community sample of 700 young adults. Participants and their mothers completed semistructured interviews to assess young adults' PD symptomatology, psychosocial functioning, suicidality, and mental health treatment use. Bifactor modeling revealed an overarching dimension of PD severity-capturing symptoms across all PD categories-that strongly predicted all functional and clinical outcomes in multivariate analyses. Effect sizes for lower-order, specific PD processes were comparatively modest for functional outcomes; however, they provided clinically significant information about suicide risk and treatment use. The authors discuss implications of a transdiagnostic perspective for research on PD etiology, classification, and treatment.

Incremental Validity of the DSM-5 Section III Personality Disorder Traits With Respect to Psychosocial Impairment

Traditional personality disorders (PDs) are associated with significant psychosocial impairment. DSM-5 Section III includes an alternative hybrid personality disorder (PD) classification approach, with both type and trait elements, but relatively little is known about the impairments associated with Section III traits. Our objective was to study the incremental validity of Section III traits--compared to normal-range traits, traditional PD criterion counts, and common psychiatric symptomatology--in predicting psychosocial impairment. To that end, 628 current/recent psychiatric patients completed measures of PD traits, normal-range traits, traditional PD criteria, psychiatric symptomatology, and psychosocial impairments. Hierarchical regressions revealed that Section III PD traits incrementally predicted psychosocial impairment over normal-range personality traits, PD criterion counts, and common psychiatric symptomatology. In contrast, the incremental effects for normal-range traits, PD symptom counts, and common psychiatric symptomatology were substantially smaller than for PD traits. These findings have implications for PD classification and the impairment literature more generally.

Capturing the DSM-5 Alternative Personality Disorder Model Traits in the Five-Factor Model's Nomological Net

Several studies have shown structural and statistical similarities between the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5) alternative personality disorder model and the Five-Factor Model (FFM). However, no study to date has evaluated the nomological network similarities between the two models. The relations of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) and the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5) with relevant criterion variables were examined in a sample of 336 undergraduate students (M_age  = 19.4; 59.8% female). The resulting profiles for each instrument were statistically compared for similarity. Four of the five domains of the two models have highly similar nomological networks, with the exception being FFM Openness to Experience and PID-5 Psychoticism. Further probing of that pair suggested that the NEO PI-R domain scores obscured meaningful similarity between PID-5 Psychoticism and specific aspects and lower-order facets of Openness. The results support the notion that the DSM-5 alternative personality disorder model trait domains represent variants of the FFM domains. Similarities of Openness and Psychoticism domains were supported when the lower-order aspects and facets of Openness domain were considered. The findings support the view that the DSM-5 trait model represents an instantiation of the FFM.

Stability of the DSM-5 Section III pathological personality traits and their longitudinal associations with psychosocial functioning in personality disordered individuals

This study was conducted to establish (a) the stability of the DSM-5 Section III personality disorder (PD) traits, (b) whether these traits predict future psychosocial functioning, and (c) whether changes in traits track with changes in psychosocial functioning across time. Ninety-three outpatients (61% female) diagnosed with at least 1 PD completed patient-report measures at 2 time-points (M time between assessments = 1.44 years), including the Personality Inventory for the DSM-5 and several measures of psychosocial functioning. Effect sizes of rank-order and mean-level change were calculated. In addition, Time 1 traits were used to predict functioning measures at Time 2. Finally, latent change score models were estimated for DSM-5 Section III traits and functioning measures, and correlations among latent change scores were calculated to establish the relationship between change in traits and functional outcomes. Findings demonstrated that the DSM-5 Section III traits were highly stable in terms of normative (i.e., mean-level) change and rank-order stability over the course of the study. Furthermore, traits prospectively predicted psychosocial functioning. However, at the individual level traits and functioning were not entirely static over the study, and change in individuals' functioning tracked with changes in trait levels. These findings demonstrate that the DSM-5 Section III traits are highly stable consistent with the definition of PD, prospectively predictive of psychosocial functioning, and are dynamically associated with functioning over time. This study provides important evidence in support of the DSM-5 Section III PD model.

Prediction of daily ratings of psychosocial functioning: can ratings of personality disorder traits and functioning be distinguished?

Current categorical and dimensional conceptualizations of personality disorder (PD) typically confound pathological PD traits with distress and impairment (dysfunction). The current study examines whether dimensions of personality pathology and psychosocial dysfunction can be psychometrically distinguished. To that end, we collected self-report ratings of personality pathology and dysfunction at baseline, along with daily ratings of dysfunctional behavior, over 10 consecutive days. Correlations revealed substantial overlap between traits and dysfunction measured at baseline. However, follow-up hierarchical regressions revealed that baseline dysfunction ratings incrementally predicted daily dysfunction ratings after accounting for personality trait ratings, suggesting that traits and dysfunction are at least partially differentiable. However, the incremental effects were stronger for some dysfunction domains (i.e., Self-Mastery and Basic Functioning) than for others (Well-Being and Interpersonal), suggesting that maladaptive trait measures are more confounded with the latter types of impairment. These findings suggest that distinguishing maladaptive PD traits from functioning in PD classification systems is likely more difficult than would be expected, a finding that has important implications for the competing Section II and Section III conceptualizations of PD presented in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition.

Five-factor trait instability in borderline relative to other personality disorders

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is related to five-factor model (FFM) traits and can be characterized as involving psychological and behavioral instability. A previous study comparing the FFM trait stability across individuals with borderline and other personality disorders found that the BPD group tended to have lower stability, particularly on neuroticism and conscientiousness and the overall configuration of FFM profiles over 6 years, suggesting that associated psychological and behavioral variability may be due to trait variability. The current study was designed to test the degree to which these findings replicate in another sample using different diagnostic and trait measures and extending the measurement period to 10 years. Results are consistent with previous findings in showing lower differential (rank-order) stability on conscientiousness, greater mean-level decreases on neuroticism, lower individual-level stability on conscientiousness, and lower ipsative stability of trait profile configurations among those with BPD. However, unlike the previous study, no differences were observed for differential or individual-level neuroticism or mean-level conscientiousness. Overall, findings show that the instability characteristic of BPD extends into typically stable personality traits, and that it does so with some specificity in terms of which traits are affected and how instability manifests.

The effect of personality dimensions on functional outcomes in mood disorders

INTRODUCTION

Functional impairment associated with mood disorders may be related to a characteristic "profile" of normative personality dimensions.

METHODS

Individuals (age ≥ 18 years) with MDD (n = 400) or BD (n = 317), as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition, text revision (DSM-IV-TR), were enrolled in the IMDCP. Personality was evaluated with the Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), and functionality with the Sheehan Disability Scale and Endicott Work Productivity Scale. Path analysis using linear multiple regressions was performed to identify direct and indirect effects of personality on functional impairment.

RESULTS

Lower conscientiousness exerted a significant direct effect on global (p = 0.017) and family life dysfunction in individuals with MDD (p = 0.002), as well as lower work productivity in both MDD (p = 0.020) and BD (p = 0.018). Lower extraversion exerted a significant direct effect on social impairment in individuals with BD (p = 0.017). Higher neuroticism and agreeableness as well as lower extraversion exerted indirect effects on global and social dysfunction in individuals with MDD via their effects on depression severity. In BD, higher neuroticism and openness indirectly affected global dysfunction. Family dysfunction was indirectly affected by higher neuroticism and openness as well as lower extraversion in MDD and BD.

CONCLUSION

The results suggest that discrete personality dimensions may exert direct and indirect effects on functional outcomes in individuals with mood disorders. Personalizing disease management approaches in mood disorders with emphasis on vocational rehabilitation may benefit from measurement and intervention targeting personality.

Integrating normal and abnormal personality structure: the Five-Factor Model

It is evident that the conceptualization, diagnosis, and classification of personality disorder (PD) is shifting toward a dimensional model. The purpose of this special issue of Journal of Personality is to indicate how the Five-Factor Model (FFM) can provide a useful and meaningful basis for an integration of the description and classification of both normal and abnormal personality functioning. This introductory article discusses its empirical support and the potential advantages of understanding personality disorders, including those included within the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and likely future PDs from the dimensional perspective of the FFM.

Ten-year rank-order stability of personality traits and disorders in a clinical sample

OBJECTIVE

This study compares the 10-year retest stability of normal traits, pathological traits, and personality disorder dimensions in a clinical sample.

METHOD

Ten-year rank-order stability estimates for the Revised NEO Personality Inventory, Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality, and Diagnostic Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders were evaluated before and after correcting for test-retest dependability and internal consistency in a clinical sample (N = 266).

RESULTS

Dependability-corrected stability estimates were generally in the range of.60-.90 for traits and.25-.65 for personality disorders.

CONCLUSIONS

The relatively lower stability of personality disorder symptoms may indicate important differences between pathological behaviors and relatively more stable self-attributed traits and imply that a full understanding of personality and personality pathology needs to take both traits and symptoms into account. The five-factor theory distinction between basic tendencies and characteristic adaptations provides a theoretical framework for the separation of traits and disorders in terms of stability in which traits reflect basic tendencies that are stable and pervasive across situations, whereas personality disorder symptoms reflect characteristic maladaptations that are a function of both basic tendencies and environmental dynamics.

Non-suicidal self-injury: the contribution of general personality functioning

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a public health problem of increasing significance. The purpose of the present study was to determine if individuals with and without a history of NSSI would differ significantly on the domains and facets of the Five Factor Model (FFM) as well as the facets from the UPPS-P Impulsive Behaviour Scale. Self-report measures of personality, borderline personality disorder and NSSI were administered to an undergraduate sample (n = 211). Individuals who had engaged in NSSI had significantly elevated levels of FFM facets of neuroticism (i.e. anxiousness, angry hostility, depressiveness, self-consciousness, impulsiveness and vulnerability) and openness (i.e. aesthetics, feelings and values) and significantly lower levels of conscientiousness (i.e. order, achievement, self-discipline and deliberation). Additionally, those with an NSSI history scored higher on UPPS-P negative urgency, lack of premeditation and lack of perseverance. The knowledge gained from this study provides further support for personality's role in NSSI. This information may aid in the identification of risk factors for NSSI and assist in efforts examining interventions for NSSI that are targeted toward personality-relevant strategies.

An Investigation of the Factor Structure and Convergent and Discriminant Validity of the Five-Factor Model Rating Form

The Five-Factor Model Rating Form (FFMRF) is a one-page measure designed to provide an efficient assessment of the higher order domains of the Five Factor Model (FFM) as well as the more specific, lower order facets proposed by McCrae and Costa. Although previous research has suggested that the FFMRF’s assessment of the lower order facets converge reasonably with other FFM measures, the structural validity of the domain-level assessment has not yet been evaluated. The current study employed an exploratory structural equation modeling framework to investigate the fit of a five-factor solution within a combined sample of 757 participants. This was a novel analysis using a combined sample drawn from three previously published studies and was composed primarily of undergraduates but also included a smaller clinical subsample. Results indicated that the FFMRF is well accommodated within a five-factor solution. Furthermore, the FFMRF domain scores evinced large correlations with domain scores from the NEO Personality Inventory–Revised. The results suggest that the FFMRF might hold promise as a choice for those seeking a brief measure that provides a valid assessment of both the broad and specific traits of the FFM.

Personality is reflected in the brain's intrinsic functional architecture

Personality describes persistent human behavioral responses to broad classes of environmental stimuli. Investigating how personality traits are reflected in the brain's functional architecture is challenging, in part due to the difficulty of designing appropriate task probes. Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) can detect intrinsic activation patterns without relying on any specific task. Here we use RSFC to investigate the neural correlates of the five-factor personality domains. Based on seed regions placed within two cognitive and affective ‘hubs’ in the brain—the anterior cingulate and precuneus—each domain of personality predicted RSFC with a unique pattern of brain regions. These patterns corresponded with functional subdivisions responsible for cognitive and affective processing such as motivation, empathy and future-oriented thinking. Neuroticism and Extraversion, the two most widely studied of the five constructs, predicted connectivity between seed regions and the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and lateral paralimbic regions, respectively. These areas are associated with emotional regulation, self-evaluation and reward, consistent with the trait qualities. Personality traits were mostly associated with functional connections that were inconsistently present across participants. This suggests that although a fundamental, core functional architecture is preserved across individuals, variable connections outside of that core encompass the inter-individual differences in personality that motivate diverse responses.

Correlations between Pre-morbid Personality and Depression Scales in Stroke Patients

Objective

To investigate the correlation between pre-morbid personality and depression scales in patients with stroke.

Method

The subjects of this study included 45 patients with stroke and their caregivers. We conducted an interview of patients with Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and also evaluated general characteristic (age, sex, location of lesion, cause of stroke, duration of illness, educational background, history of medication for depression) and functional level. Caregivers were evaluated with Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) for depressive mood, with NEO-PI (Neuroticism, Extraversion and Openness Personality Inventory) for pre-morbid personality. The results of each questionnaire were analyzed in order to investigate their correlation. The results were statistically analyzed with independent t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation test.

Results

The HRSD score of the caregivers had a significant correlation with the BDI score (p=0.001) of the patients. The BDI score correlated with Neuroticism (p=0.021) and the HRSD score also correlated with Neuroticism (p=0.015). There were no statistical correlation of depression with sex, age, case of stroke, location of lesion, duration of illness and functional level.

Conclusion

Among pre-morbid personalities, neuroticism of NEO-PI is the only factor which is significantly correlated with depression scales in stroke patients. Evaluating pre-morbid personality can be helpful in predicting the depressive mood in stroke patients, so we may have early intervention for it.

Personality assessment in DSM-5: empirical support for rating severity, style, and traits

Despite a general consensus that dimensional models are superior to the categorical representations of personality disorders in DSM-IV, proposals for how to depict personality pathology dimensions vary substantially. One important question involves how to separate clinical severity from the style of expression through which personality pathology manifests. This study empirically distinguished stylistic elements of personality pathology symptoms from the overall severity of personality disorder in a large, longitudinally assessed clinical sample (N = 605). Data suggest that generalized severity is the most important single predictor of current and prospective dysfunction, but that stylistic elements also indicate specific areas of difficulty. Normative personality traits tend to relate to the general propensity for personality pathology, but not stylistic elements of personality disorders. Overall, findings support a three-stage diagnostic strategy involving a global rating of personality disorder severity, ratings of parsimonious and discriminant valid stylistic elements of personality disorder, and ratings of normative personality traits.

Using clinician-rated five-factor model data to score the DSM-IV personality disorders

Proposals suggest that many or all of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. [DSM-IV]; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) personality disorders (PDs) may be omitted from the DSM (5th ed.; DSM-V) and replaced with a dimensional trait model of personality pathology (Krueger, Skodol, Livesley, Shrout, & Huang, 2007; Skodol, 2009). Several authors have expressed concerns that this may be difficult for clinicians and researchers who are more comfortable with the extant PD diagnoses. In this study, we tested whether clinician ratings of traits from the Five-factor model (FFM; Costa & McCrae, 1990) can be used to recreate DSM-IV PDs. Using a sample of 130 clinical outpatients, we tested the convergent and discriminant validity of the FFM PD counts in relation to consensus ratings of the DSM-IV PDs. We then examined whether the FFM and DSM-IV PD scores correlate in similar ways with self-reported personality traits from the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality (Clark, 1993). Finally, we tested the clinical utility of the FFM PD counts in relation to functional impairment. Overall, the FFM PD counts, scored using clinician ratings of the FFM traits, appeared to function like the DSM-IV PDs, thus suggesting that the use of a dimensional trait model of personality in the DSM-V may still allow for an assessment of the DSM-IV PD constructs.

Examining the reliability and validity of clinician ratings on the Five-Factor Model Score Sheet

Despite substantial research use, measures of the five-factor model (FFM) are infrequently used in clinical settings due, in part, to issues related to administration time and a reluctance to use self-report instruments. The current study examines the reliability and validity of the Five-Factor Model Score Sheet (FFMSS), which is a 30-item clinician rating form designed to assess the five domains and 30 facets of one conceptualization of the FFM. Studied in a sample of 130 outpatients, clinical raters demonstrated reasonably good interrater reliability across personality profiles and the domains manifested good internal consistency with the exception of Neuroticism. The FFMSS ratings also evinced expected relations with self-reported personality traits (e.g., FFMSS Extraversion and Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality Positive Temperament) and consensus-rated personality disorder symptoms (e.g., FFMSS Agreeableness and Narcissistic Personality Disorder). Finally, on average, the FFMSS domains were able to account for approximately 50% of the variance in domains of functioning (e.g., occupational, parental) and were even able to account for variance after controlling for Axis I and Axis II pathology. Given these findings, it is believed that the FFMSS holds promise for clinical use.

The stability of personality traits in individuals with borderline personality disorder

Although stability and pervasive inflexibility are general criteria for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) personality disorders (PDs), borderline PD (BPD) is characterized by instability in several domains, including interpersonal behavior, affect, and identity. The authors hypothesized that such inconsistencies notable in BPD may relate to instability at the level of the basic personality traits that are associated with this disorder. Five types of personality trait stability across 4 assessments over 6 years were compared for BPD patients (N = 130 at first interval) and patients with other PDs (N = 302). Structural stability did not differ across groups. Differential stability tended to be lower for 5-factor model (FFM) traits in the BPD group, with the strongest and most consistent effects observed for Neuroticism and Conscientiousness. Growth curve models suggested that these 2 traits also showed greater mean-level change, with Neuroticism declining faster and Conscientiousness increasing faster, in the BPD group. The BPD group was further characterized by greater individual-level instability for Neuroticism and Conscientiousness in these models. Finally, the BPD group was less stable in terms of the ipsative configuration of FFM facet-level profiles than was the other PD group over time. Results point to the importance of personality trait instability in characterizing BPD.

Personality disorders and mood disorders: perspectives on diagnosis and classification from studies of longitudinal course and familial associations

The results of three rigorous studies of the naturalistic course of personality disorders indicate the following: (1) personality psychopathology improves over time at unexpectedly significant rates; (2) particular maladaptive personality traits are more stable than personality disorder diagnoses; (3) although personality psychopathology improves, residual effects are usually seen in the form of persistent functional impairment and ongoing Axis I psychopathology; and (4) improvement in personality psychopathology may eventually be associated with reduction in ongoing personal and social burden. A comparison of the longitudinal stability of personality disorders and mood disorders does not support a clear distinction between them based on differential stability of either psychopathology (at least based on remission rates) or functional impairment. Differences may yet emerge with respect to relapse rates over the longer term. Both types of disorders may share some common underlying vulnerabilities best conceptualized in term of personality traits. A group of promising, though methodologically flawed, family studies suggest familiality of at least BPD among the personality disorders and the coaggregation of BPD and depressive disorders (but not bipolar disorders) that may contribute to their frequent co-occurrence. Again, underlying personality traits may prove to be more heritable than either type of disorder.