Predicting Personality Disorder Functioning Styles By Brief Versions Of Personality Trait Measures:Tests In Healthy Vlunteers And Personality Disorder Patients

1 BackgroundPersonality disorder is one of the most debilitating psychiatric disorders,with high comorbidities,mixed symptoms and unclear core structures.The diagnostic criteria of personality disorder are still insufficient,and the measures are complex and unreliable.As the underlying variable of psychiatric disorders,personality is relatively stable,which has both cross-cultural consistency and cultural specificity.Personality trait measures predict personality disorder functioning styles.Existing versions of personality trait measures are stable but time-consuming in clinics.The brief versions could predict personality disorder functioning styles more easily and efficiently,contributing to more accurate description of the core structures of personality disorder for its clinical diagnosis and treatment.2.Aims2.1 The Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire Shortened Form(ZKA-PQ/SF)is a brief version of personality trait measure composed of five traits and 20 facets,with 80 items.ZKA-PQ/SF has proven to be cross-cultural stability in 18 countries and regions around the world,and it is shorter than most similar questionnaires are.We aim to test this measure in Chinese healthy volunteers and personality disorder patients to look for significant characteristics of personality traits and facets in patients.2.2 To test whether the five traits of ZKA-PQ/SF predict personality disorder functioning styles in Chinese healthy volunteers and personality disorder patients,or the facets have prominent manifestations,especially in patients with personality disorder.2.3 The Chinese Adjective Descriptors of Personality(CADP)measures five personality traits by 100 Chinese adjectives,which is also a shorter inventory which reflects the influence of Chinese culture on personality traits.We aim to test this measure in Chinese healthy volunteers and personality disorder patients to describe the personality traits of patients.Later,the CADP might be used to predict personality disorder functioning styles,to explore that the prediction results could be mainly consistent with those of ZKA-PQ/SF,but there might be some differences in predictive indicators reflecting characteristics of Chinese culture.3 Methods3.1 We administered ZKA-PQ/SF in 446 healthy volunteers and 112 personality disorder patients in China.The scores of each trait and facet were compared between the two groups in order to analyze the outstanding personality traits of the patients.3.2 The Parker Personality Disorders Questionnaire(PERM)was used in the two previous groups and their depression levels were assessed with the Plutchik-van Praag Depression Inventory(PVP).We used ZKA-PQ/SF to predict PERM personality disorder functioning styles,and then analyzed the predictive relationship between personality traits and personality disorder functioning styles.3.3 CADP was administered to measure personality traits in 201 healthy volunteers and 67 personality disorder patients in China.The scores in each trait of the two groups were compared to analyze the outstanding traits of patients and the influence of Chinese culture involved.We used CADP personality traits to predict PERM personality disorder functioning styles,and then analyzed the predictive relationship between personality traits and personality disorder function styles considering the influence of Chinese culture there of.4 Results4.1 Personality disorder patients scored higher on Neuroticism trait and Aggressiveness trait in ZKA-PQ/SF than healthy volunteers,and lower on Extraversion trait.Their scores of facet were more specific in these comparisons.4.2 In both groups,ZKA-PQ/SF traits were first used to predict personality disorder functioning styles,showing that all five traits could predict(|?|:0.30?0.61)at least one style.Later,facets were used to predict the styles,showing that facets had predictive effect(|?|:0.30?0.60)within four traits except the facet under Sensation Seeking trait,and most indexes at facet level were stronger than those at trait level in prediction.4.3 The scores of Emotional trait and Unsocial trait in CADP of personality disorder patients were higher than those of healthy volunteers.When CADP was used to predict personality disorder functioning styles,all five traits predicted(|?|:0.34?0.57)at least one style in the patient group,among which Unsocial was the most robust predictor,and Agreeable was the weakest one.The results were consistent with ZKA-PQ/SF in general,but there was no significant difference in Agreeable scores between two groups in CADP,which suggested that Chinese culture emphasizes the individual compliance.Moreover,Unsocial predicted antisocial personality disorder functioning style,reflecting that Chinese culture emphasizes the unity of the whole and limits the expression of individual feelings.5 ConclusionsThe brief versions of personality trait measures ZKA-PQ/SF and CADP showed the cross-cultural stability but little cultural difference of personality traits in Chinese healthy volunteers and personality disorder patients.These two measures effectively predicted personality disorder functioning styles,where the trait and facet levels in ZKA-PQ/SF provided more comprehensive and detailed predictor effects.CADP helped to discover the predictive association between personality traits and personality disorder functioning styles in Chinese culture.These two kinds of personality trait measures might be applied to research and clinic areas efficiently,which might provide insight into the core structures of personality disorder.