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Comparison of Three Self-Report Measures of Personality Pathology

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Abstract

Levels of convergence were examined among three personality instruments: the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4+ (PDQ-4+), the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Personality Disorders Questionnaire (SCID-IIQ) and the Multi-source Assessment of Personality Pathology (MAPP). Each personality questionnaire was administered three times in an alternating sequence over nine consecutive weekdays to a sample of college students. There was some degree of convergence among the three instruments, but there were also substantial empirical differences between them. The data suggest three related conclusions: (1) in general, the self-report version of the MAPP is more conservative than the other two questionnaires, (2) these questionnaires are not interchangeable measures of personality disorders, and (3) the breadth of measurement provided varies as a function of both the questionnaire and the personality disorder being measured.

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Notes

  1. It is recognized that it is not appropriate to make “diagnoses” of personality disorders without administering a semi-structured interview. In this paper, the term “diagnosis” is used simply to note that the individual met or exceeded the number of criteria needed to make diagnoses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, 63139, USA

    Mayumi Okada & Thomas F. Oltmanns

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  1. Mayumi Okada
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  2. Thomas F. Oltmanns
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Correspondence to Thomas F. Oltmanns.

Appendix 1: The Number of DSM-IV PD Diagnoses Based on the Instruments

Appendix 1: The Number of DSM-IV PD Diagnoses Based on the Instruments

Appendix 1 consists of ten Venn diagrams, nine of which present the number of “diagnoses” based on the instrument(s) for each of the nine PDs (antisocial PD was excluded). The tenth Venn diagram represents the total number of diagnoses for all nine PDs.

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Okada, M., Oltmanns, T.F. Comparison of Three Self-Report Measures of Personality Pathology. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 31, 358–367 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-009-9130-8

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