TY - JOUR
T1 - Taxometric analyses of paranoid and schizoid personality disorders
AU - Ahmed, Anthony Olufemi
AU - Green, Bradley Andrew
AU - Buckley, Peter F
AU - McFarland, Megan Elizabeth
PY - 2012/3/30
Y1 - 2012/3/30
N2 - There remains debate about whether personality disorders (PDs) are better conceptualized as categorical, reflecting discontinuity from normal personality; or dimensional, existing on a continuum of severity with normal personality traits. Evidence suggests that most PDs are dimensional but there is a lack of consensus about the structure of Cluster A disorders. Taxometric methods are adaptable to investigating the taxonic status of psychiatric disorders. The current study investigated the latent structure of paranoid and schizoid PDs in an epidemiological sample (. N=. 43,093) drawn from the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) using taxometric analyses. The current study used taxometric methods to analyze three indicators of paranoid PD - mistrust, resentment, and functional disturbance - and three indicators of schizoid PD - emotional detachment, social withdrawal, and functional disturbance - derived factor analytically. Overall, taxometrics supported a dimensional rather than taxonic structure for paranoid and schizoid PDs through examination of taxometric graphs and comparative curve fit indices. Dimensional models of paranoid and schizoid PDs better predicted social functioning, role-emotional, and mental health scales in the survey than categorical models. Evidence from the current study supports recent efforts to represent paranoid and schizoid PDs as well as other PDs along broad personality dimensions.
AB - There remains debate about whether personality disorders (PDs) are better conceptualized as categorical, reflecting discontinuity from normal personality; or dimensional, existing on a continuum of severity with normal personality traits. Evidence suggests that most PDs are dimensional but there is a lack of consensus about the structure of Cluster A disorders. Taxometric methods are adaptable to investigating the taxonic status of psychiatric disorders. The current study investigated the latent structure of paranoid and schizoid PDs in an epidemiological sample (. N=. 43,093) drawn from the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) using taxometric analyses. The current study used taxometric methods to analyze three indicators of paranoid PD - mistrust, resentment, and functional disturbance - and three indicators of schizoid PD - emotional detachment, social withdrawal, and functional disturbance - derived factor analytically. Overall, taxometrics supported a dimensional rather than taxonic structure for paranoid and schizoid PDs through examination of taxometric graphs and comparative curve fit indices. Dimensional models of paranoid and schizoid PDs better predicted social functioning, role-emotional, and mental health scales in the survey than categorical models. Evidence from the current study supports recent efforts to represent paranoid and schizoid PDs as well as other PDs along broad personality dimensions.
KW - Latent structure
KW - Paranoid
KW - Personality disorders
KW - Schizoid
KW - Schizophrenia spectrum
KW - Taxometrics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84860631579&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84860631579&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.psychres.2011.10.010
DO - 10.1016/j.psychres.2011.10.010
M3 - Article
C2 - 22377573
AN - SCOPUS:84860631579
SN - 0165-1781
VL - 196
SP - 123
EP - 132
JO - Psychiatry Research
JF - Psychiatry Research
IS - 1
ER -