Empirical Evidence for a New Class of Personality Disorder: The Safety-Oriented Personality Style or Phobicentric Psychopathology (SOPS/PCP) and Impact on Personality Psychology

Abstract

This study is aimed at establishing that the Safety-Oriented Personality Style (SOPS) or Phobicentric Psychopathology (PCP) is an actual mental disorder representing a disproportionate, self-focused pattern of reacting to ordinary fear-anxiety situations. SOPS/PCP is most similar to Neuroticism in the widely accepted Big 5 model. The presentation of personality within a dimensional structure is in contradistinction to that of the lately criticized category-based Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). Nonetheless contrasting both Big 5 and DSM, a neuro-biological theory provided the SOPS/PCP construct with etiological capability to empirically explain progress of the condition from normal to dysfunctional functioning, thus linking it with day-today emotional life. From a sample of 406 adults, who participated in confirming respectively that SOPS/PCP is present outside the clinical setting and is a real-world empirical condition, 100 individuals were randomly selected to examine the reliability and validity of the SOPS/PCP Individual Questionnaire (SOPSIQ). The results confirmed SOPS/PCP is an actual mental disorder, which is absent in some people and supported all the hypotheses in relation to the research objectives. In rivalry with three prominent formulations of personality, DSM, Big 5 and Interpersonal Relatedness & Self-Definition (IR), which is related to Contemporary Integrative Interpersonal Theory (CIIT), that of SOPS/PCP is presented as aspiring to be a more accurate elucidation of

Gender and Age Differences in Safety-Oriented Personality Style or Phobicentric Psychopathology (SOPS/PCP)

“…This overall virtual absence of gender differences in SOPS/PCP however, is in contrast to a preponderance of reports, which consistently present women as more prone to N than men. Here then is a major difference between SOPS/PCP and N, which, as the original study (Bickersteth, et al, 2018) suggested, represents evidence that SOPS/PCP and N are not identical despite their positive association.…”

“…The Safety-Oriented Personality Style or Phobicentric Psychopathology Individual Questionnaire (SOPS/PCPIQ). To assess SOPS/PCP attributes the SOPS/PCPIQ (Bickersteth, et al, 2018)were administered. SOPS/PCPIQ consists of 29 items that measure the safety-oriented personality style using a six-point Likert-style scale, with a range from 0 (Never) to 5 (Very often).…”

“…The internal and test retest reliability of the SOPSIQ were 0.87, which suggests a high internal reliability and 0.59, which indicates a moderate reliability. And the SOPS/PCPIQ is convergently and divergently valid (Bickersteth, et al, 2018) 3.2 Sample 406 people volunteered to participate in the study by Bickersteth et al (2018). They were described as English-speaking adults aged between 18 and 80+ years from the United States and Canada (see Table 1).…”

“…The Safety-Oriented Personality or Phobicentric Psychopathology (SOPS/PCP) has been previously discussed (Bickersteth, Zhang & Guo, 2018). That study was the first time SOPS/PCP was proposed as a personality type.…”

“…The data for this study came from a previous study (Bickersteth et al, 2018) that met all ethical requirements.…”