Are Personality Disorders Psychological Manifestations of Executive Function Deficits? Bivariate Heritability Evidence from a Twin Study

Abstract

This study tested whether personality disorders may be the psychological manifestations of executive function deficits by examining their bivariate heritability in a community sample of 314 twins (ages 5-17 years; M age = 9.7; 96 monozygotic pairs and 61 dizygotic pairs). The parents of the twins completed the Coolidge Personality and Neuropsychological Inventory (Coolidge, 1998; Coolidge et al., 2002). Heritability was estimated by structural equation modeling. Executive function deficits and personality disorders were significantly heritable (executive function deficits,.77; 11 out of 12 personality disorders, median =.69). The proportion of the observed correlation attributable to heritable factors or bivariate heritability between executive function deficits and the personality disorder scales ranged from.27 for schizoid to.64 for histrionic. These findings may provide some insight as to why individuals diagnosed with specific personality disorders frequently exhibit chronic difficulties with everyday decisions, selective attention and inhibition, judgments, choices, planning, and flexibility.

Maladaptive Personality and Neuropsychological Features of Highly Relationally Aggressive Adolescent Girls

“…The general construct validity of the CPNI scales has been demonstrated in a variety of clinical and nonclinical empirical studies (Coolidge, DenBoer, & Segal, 2004;Coolidge, Segal, Stewart, & Ellet, 2000;Coolidge, Thede, & Jang, 2001;Coolidge, Thede, & Jang, 2004). Coolidge, Thede, Stewart, and Segal (2002) provide a summary of the CPNI reliability and construct validity studies.…”

Do Nightmares and Generalized Anxiety Disorder in Childhood and Adolescence have a Common Genetic Origin?

“…Also, in the present study, a single critical item (which overlaps with no other CPNI scales), CPNI Item 59: My child has terrible nightmares was used for analyses. The general construct validity of the CPNI scales has been demonstrated in a variety of clinical studies including children with ADHD ), children with conduct disorders and ADHD (Coolidge et al 2000b), children with executive function deficits (Coolidge et al 2004b), bullies (Coolidge et al 2004a), children with personality disorders and their features (Coolidge et al 2001), children with borderline personality disorder features (Coolidge et al 2000a), children in the autistic spectrum (Thede and Coolidge 2006), and children with gender identity disorder (Coolidge et al 2002b).…”

Preliminary psychometric properties of a measure of Karen Horney's Tridimensional theory in children and adolescents

“…The median test-retest reliability for these 18 scales (4-week to 6-week intervals) is .87. The construct validity of the CPNI scales has been demonstrated in a variety of clinical studies, as follows: children with ADHD (Coolidge, Starkey, & Cahill, 2007); children with conduct disorders and ADHD (Coolidge, Thede, & Young, 2000); children with executive function deficits (Coolidge, Thede, & Jang, 2004), bullies (Coolidge, DenBoer, & Segal, 2004); children with personality disorders and their features (Coolidge, Thede, & Jang, 2001); children with borderline personality disorder features (Coolidge, Segal, Stewart, & Ellett, 2000); children in the autistic spectrum (Thede & Coolidge, 2006); children with gender identity disorder (Coolidge, Thede, & Young, 2002); and children with nightmares and anxiety disorders (Coolidge, Segal, Coolidge, Spinath, & Gottschling, 2010). Additional details about the CPNI are available in the CPNI manual .…”