Borderline personality disorder from the perspective of general personality functioning.

The authors extended previous work on the hypothesis that borderline personality disorder (BPD) can be understood as a maladaptive variant of personality traits included within the 5-factor model (FFM) of personality. In each of 3 samples, an empirically derived prototypic FFM borderline profile was correlated with individuals' FFM profiles to yield a similarity score, an FFM borderline index. Results across all samples indicated that the FFM borderline index correlated as highly with existing borderline measures as they correlated with one another, and the FFM borderline index correlated as highly with measures of dysfunction, history of childhood abuse, and parental psychopathology as did traditional measures of BPD. Findings support the hypothesis that BPD is a maladaptive variant of FFM personality traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality, Family History, and Competence in Early Adult Romantic Relationships.

The present investigation tested how well family characteristics and the personality traits assessed by the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (A. Tellegen, 1982) measured in late adolescence predict aspects of romantic relationships in early adulthood. Nurturant-involved parenting practices and personality traits were related to observed negative interactions and to couples' reports of relationship quality. These results from a prospective longitudinal study suggest that the origins of competence in romantic relationships can be found both in individual differences in personality (especially in negative emotionality) and in differences in developmental experiences. Discussion further develops an account of relationship success and dysfunction that integrates proximal factors, such as couple interactions, with more distal factors such as personality and socialization experiences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age differences in the sixth personality factor: Age differences in interpersonal relatedness among Canadians and Hong Kong Chinese.

Cross-cultural studies on personality in which a combined etic-emic approach has been used have found a 6th personality factor--Interpersonal Relatedness--in addition to the usual Big Five. The authors examined age differences in Interpersonal Relatedness among Canadians and Hong Kong Chinese after statistically controlling for the Big Five. Age differences in some aspects of Interpersonal Relatedness were found among Hong Kong Chinese but not among Canadians, suggesting that development of some personality characteristics may differ across cultures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A meta-analysis of normal and disordered personality across the life span.

Debate continues about whether personality, both normal and disordered, can change significantly or is mainly stable across the life span. One issue that receives little attention is the degree to which personality stability coefficients may be influenced by attenuation due to measurement error. The current meta-analysis examines the data from recent research on personality stability, reporting both uncorrected and corrected stability coefficients. Attenuation due to measurement error was found to cause a significant reduction in personality stability coefficients, raising the possibility that some studies may conflate personality change with measurement error. Overall, corrected stability coefficients suggested that the stability of personality across adulthood is high, with only modest change. By contrast, personality during childhood is significantly more changeable. Both normal personality and personality disorders were highly stable across the life span, and patients in therapy experienced no more personality change than did nonpatients. Cross-cultural comparisons suggested relatively similar levels of personality stability cross-culturally, although personality stability among people in South Pacific nations is slightly lower than among those in the United States, Canada, or European nations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transitional relatedness and borderline personality disorder.

This study examined various aspects of transitional relatedness among individuals diagnosed as borderline or antisocial personality disorder. This study was a follow-up to an earlier report (Cooper, 1983) using the Rorschach Transitional Object Scale, which found only marginal support for Modell's clinical hypothesis that the borderline personality disorder involves a developmental arrest at the stage of the transitional object. The authors approached the concept of transitional relatedness as a series of external and internalized modes of relating including the perceptual capacity to distinguish between object and symbol on the Rorschach as well as self-reported current and past reliance on transitional objects and self-soothing activities. The study failed to provide evidence to suggest that reliance on a past or present transitional object per se is a unique or diagnostic feature of the borderline personality disorder. Particular aspects of current transitional relatedness, however, were strongly associated with borderline psychopathology. The clinical and research implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do personality problems improve during psychodynamic supportive–expressive psychotherapy? Secondary outcome results from a randomized controlled trial for psychiatric outpatients with personality disorders.

Studies involving patients with personality disorders (PDs) have not focused on improvement of core aspects of the PD. The authors examined changes in quality of object relations, interpersonal problems, psychological mindedness, and personality traits in a sample of 156 patients with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) PD diagnoses being randomized to either manualized or nonmanualized dynamic psychotherapy. Effect sizes adjusted for symptomatic change and reliable change indices were calculated. The authors found that both treatments were equally effective at reducing personality pathology. Only in neuroticism did the nonmanualized group do better during the follow-up period. The largest improvement was found in quality of object relations. For the remaining variables, only small and clinically insignificant magnitudes of change were found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Up and Down in Middle Age: Monotonic and Nonmonotonic Changes in Roles, Status, and Personality.

It is proposed that personality (conceptualized in terms of motives and psychological resources) changes normatively not only from young adulthood to middle age but also within middle age and that these changes take place in relation to social and biosocial change over the same period. Data from 123 women studied at ages 27, 43, 52, and 61 largely supported hypotheses about change in social roles, status, health, motives, personality characteristics, emotion regulation, and relationships. Noteworthy aspects of the findings were substantial curvilinear change within middle age and associations of work involvement and physical health with personality change during late middle age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drug Use Disorders and Personality Disorder Symptoms.

In a nonclinical sample of 395 young adults, the authors evaluated the relations between major personality traits, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) personality disorder symptoms, and DSM-IV alcohol use disorders (AUDs). Consistent with previous findings, traits related to disinhibition and negative affectivity were consistently associated with AUDs, as were Cluster B personality disorder symptoms (especially antisocial and borderline disorder symptoms). Multivariate analyses revealed that Cluster B symptoms were significantly associated with AUDs above and beyond what was accounted for by personality traits. Further, the authors found differential patterns of relations between other substance use disorders (SUDs; i.e., tobacco dependence and drug use diagnoses) and personality disorder symptoms. Overall, these results suggest that personality disorder symptoms predict unique variance in SUDs that reflect maladaptive aspects of personality traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long-term correlated change in personality traits in old age.

The present study examines long-term correlated change in personality traits in old age across a time period of 12 years. Data from the Interdisciplinary Study on Adult Development were used to investigate different aspects of personality change and stability. The sample consisted of 300 adults ranging from 60 to 64 years of age at Time 1. Personality was measured with the NEO Five-Factor Inventory. Longitudinal structural stability, differential stability, change in interindividual differences, mean-level change, and correlated change of the 5 personality traits were examined utilizing structural equation modeling. After having established strict measurement invariance, factor variances in Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness were found to be different across testing occasions, implying variant covariation patterns over time. Stability coefficients were around .70, indicating high but not perfect differential stability. The amount of interindividual differences increased with respect to Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness. Both mean-level change and stability in personality were observed. Eventually, except for Neuroticism, a number of medium effect-sized correlations among changes in personality traits emerged, implying that personality changes share a substantial amount of commonality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adaptation level, personality theory, and psychopathology.

Adaptation-level (AL) theory represents a quantitative approach to the concept of adjustment and offers an experimental psychological point of departure for a science of personal and social behavior. It is suggested that a personality theory develop from classification of response types specifying relevant aspects of the focal, background, and residual factors. The various psychopathologies may be similarly viewed in terms of specific behavioral excesses or impairments within the framework of AL theory. A proposal for the use of AL theory in regard to personality and psychopathology is outlined and representative studies are cited. (58 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some effects of information, situation, and personality on decision making in a clinical setting.

40 graduate students were used as Ss to investigate some relationships among informational, situational, and personality variables and to observe the effects of these variables on various aspects of interpretive decision behavior. The major finding was that high-anal Ss (on the Dynamic Personality Inventory) have less confidence in their interpretations, make fewer specific predictions, and find less pathology in their patients than low-anal Ss. This finding confirms some aspects of the psychoanalytic view of personality and points out that clinical decisions are not independent of the clinician's personality. The effects of ego involvement and different conditions of information on clinical decision making were also investigated. Clear-cut implications about these variables cannot be derived from this study, although some suggestions about the relationship of ego involvement to personality and defense are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental evaluations of role playing.

This article is restricted to those studies which have been reported in which role playing was evaluated experimentally. Studies concerned with role playing as an assessment procedure and as a method for producing personality change are included in this report. Though there is a scarcity of experimental studies, the author concludes, with reference to personality assessment, "there is some sound evidence for believing that reliable and valid role-playing tests can be developed." The evidence with reference to personality change is as yet inconclusive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The five-factor model of personality and managerial performance: Validity gains through the use of 360 degree performance ratings.

This study investigated the usefulness of the five-factor model (FFM) of personality in predicting two aspects of managerial performance (task vs. contextual) assessed by utilizing the 360 degree performance rating system. The authors speculated that one reason for the low validity of the FFM might be the failure of single-source (e.g., supervisor) ratings to comprehensively capture the construct of managerial performance. The operational validity of personality was found to increase substantially (50%–74%) across all of the FFM personality traits when both peer and subordinate ratings were added to supervisor ratings according to the multitrait–multimethod approach. Furthermore, the authors responded to the recent calls to validate tests via a multivariate (e.g., multitrait–multimethod) approach by decomposing overall managerial performance into task and contextual performance criteria and by using multiple rating perspectives (sources). Overall, this study contributes to the evidence that personality may be even more useful in predicting managerial performance if the performance criteria are less deficient. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genetic and environmental influences on personality trait stability and growth during the transition to adulthood: A three-wave longitudinal study.

During the transition to adulthood individuals typically settle into adult roles in love and work. This transition also involves significant changes in personality traits that are generally in the direction of greater maturity and increased stability. Competing hypotheses have been offered to account for these personality changes: The intrinsic maturation hypothesis suggests that change trajectories are endogenous, whereas the life-course hypothesis suggests that these changes occur because of transactions with the social environment. This study investigated the patterns and origins of personality trait changes from ages 17 to 29 using 3 waves of Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire data provided by twins. Results suggest that (a) trait changes were more profound in the first relative to the second half of the transition to adulthood; (b) traits tend to become more stable during the second half of this transition, with all the traits yielding retest correlations between .74 and .78; (c) Negative Affectivity declined over time, and Constraint increased over time; minimal change was observed on agentic or communal aspects of Positive Emotionality; and (d) both genetic and nonshared environmental factors accounted for personality changes. Overall, these genetically informed results support a life-course perspective on personality development during the transition to adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations between personality and coping: A meta-analysis.

Personality may directly facilitate or constrain coping, but relations of personality to coping have been inconsistent across studies, suggesting a need for greater attention to methods and samples. This meta-analysis tested moderators of relations between Big Five personality traits and coping using 2,653 effect sizes drawn from 165 samples and 33,094 participants. Personality was weakly related to broad coping (e.g., Engagement or Disengagement), but all 5 traits predicted specific strategies. Extraversion and Conscientiousness predicted more problem-solving and cognitive restructuring, Neuroticism less. Neuroticism predicted problematic strategies like wishful thinking, withdrawal, and emotion-focused coping but, like Extraversion, also predicted support seeking. Personality more strongly predicted coping in young samples, stressed samples, and samples reporting dispositional rather than situation-specific coping. Daily versus retrospective coping reports and self-selected versus researcher-selected stressors also moderated relations between personality and coping. Cross-cultural differences were present, and ethnically diverse samples showed more protective effects of personality. Richer understanding of the role of personality in the coping process requires assessment of personality facets and specific coping strategies, use of laboratory and daily report studies, and multivariate analyses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interrelationships among measures of field dependence, ability, and personality traits.

This study was devised to test the validity of findings of previous research with regard to the personality correlates of performance on Witkin's (1954) measures of field dependence (FD). The results (with a sample of college Ss) suggest that the Embedded Figure Test (EFT) and the Rod-and-Frame Test (RFT) do not necessarily measure the same cognitive or personality factors. Previous findings were not, to a considerable extent, duplicated; some personality correlates were not found to be related to either EFT or RFT. FD people were characterized by a tendency to react with affective disruption and intellectual deficit to an external situation that lacks clear structure. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4HA27E. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Review of major theories of personality disorder.

Reviews the book, Review of major theories of personality disorder edited by J. Clarkin and M. Lenzenweger (see record 1996-97764-000). This book provides a comprehensive review of several major theories of personality disorder that exist today. With most studies examining specific aspects of the assessment and diagnosis of personality disorders, the editors hope to fill a void in contemporary work by presenting several broad theoretical frameworks. Some of the approaches to personality disorders discussed include the cognitive model, psychoanalytic approach, interpersonal theory, evolutionary theory, and a neurobiological framework. The reviewers note that although this variety provides a broad spectrum of approaches, it fails to integrate the different models. However, overall, the reviewers believe that this is a solid text that provides new information and divergent views. This book may be useful to academic psychologists who are interested in learning the theoretical underpinnings of different approaches to personality disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Big Five personality dimensions and entrepreneurial status: A meta-analytical review.

In this study, the authors used meta-analytical techniques to examine the relationship between personality and entrepreneurial status. Personality variables used in previous studies were categorized according to the five-factor model of personality. Results indicate significant differences between entrepreneurs and managers on 4 personality dimensions such that entrepreneurs scored higher on Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience and lower on Neuroticism and Agreeableness. No difference was found for Extraversion. Effect sizes for each personality dimension were small, although the multivariate relationship for the full set of personality variables was moderate (R = .37). Considerable heterogeneity existed for all of the personality variables except Agreeableness, suggesting that future research should explore possible moderators of the personality-entrepreneurial status relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)