Abstract
In Section III of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – fifth edition (DSM-5), an Alternative Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD) is proposed, including a criterion for personality functioning impairment (Criterion A) to assess severity of personality pathology. The present study examined the structure, reliability, and convergent validity of the Dutch version of a five-item screening scale for Criterion A—the Five-Item Screening Scale for Personality Disorders (FISSPD; Skodol et al., in Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 2, 4-22, 2011)—in a community sample of 1,477 adolescents and 546 adults. To assess convergent validity, identity and personality (pathology) questionnaires were completed by adolescents and adults. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded a single factor structure for the FISSPD, which proved to be (partially) invariant across age and gender. Adequate reliability coefficients were obtained for the FISSPD. In both the adolescent and adult sample, significant correlations were found between the FISSPD and consolidated identity (negative) and disturbed identity/lack of identity (positive). In the adult sample, the FISSPD showed significant correlations with several personality disorders (and especially with the borderline personality disorder), maladaptive personality traits (Criterion B of the AMPD), and general personality impairment. In the adolescent sample, the FISSPD was positively correlated with borderline personality disorder characteristics. Furthermore, significant correlations were found with the Big-Five personality traits in the adolescent sample: the FISSPD correlated significantly positive with neuroticism, and negative with extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. In sum, the present study supports the reliability and validity of the FISSPD to screen for (severity of) personality pathology.
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The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article are not publicly available since the ethical commission did not approve of this and data are partially retrieved from minor participants. The first author can make the data available upon request, in an anonymized form.
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This research was partly funded by Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (FWO, Belgium; grant number G062117N).
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Kristina Eggermont, Koen Luyckx, and Laurence Claes designed the study. Tinne Buelens and Annabel Bogaerts were involved in the data collection. Kristina Eggermont and Dirk Smits analyzed the data and data were further interpreted by Kristina Eggermont, Koen Luyckx, and Laurence Claes. Kristina Eggermont wrote the manuscript, which was revised by all co-authors. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Kristina Eggermont, Koen Luyckx, Dirk Smits, Annabel Bogaerts, Tinne Buelens, Tim Bastiaens, and Laurence Claes have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
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Eggermont, K., Luyckx, K., Smits, D. et al. The Validation of a Five-Item Screening Scale for Personality Disorders in Dutch-Speaking Community Adolescents and Adults. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 44, 418–431 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-022-09951-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-022-09951-1