The Longitudinal Relationship of Personality Traits and Disorders.

Abstract

Personality disorders are presumed to be stable because of underlying stable and maladaptive personality traits, but while previous research has demonstrated a link between personality traits and personality disorders cross-sectionally, personality disorders and personality traits have not been linked longitudinally. This study explores the extent to which relevant personality traits are stable in individuals diagnosed with 4 personality disorders (schizotypal, borderline, avoidant, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders) and examines the assumption that these personality disorders are stable by virtue of stable personality traits. This assumption was tested via the estimation of a series of latent longitudinal models that evaluated whether changes in relevant personality traits lead to subsequent changes in personality disorders. In addition to offering large consistency estimates for personality traits and personality disorders, the results demonstrate significant cross-lagged relationships between trait change and later disorder change for 3 of the 4 personality disorders studied.

Adult Attachment, Personality Traits, and Borderline Personality Disorder Features in Young Adults

“…If dysfunctional attachment-related representations influence chronic negative affect and impulsivity, then it may be important in the treatment of BPD to activate the attachment system and facilitate changes in attachment. Notwithstanding that traits were more directly related to BPD features in these data than attachment patterns, and there is evidence that change can occur in the personality traits underlying BPD (e.g., Warner et al, 2004), it is also possible that the modification of mental representations with respect to attachment relationships may be important mechanisms of long-term change for these patients (Fonagy & Bateman, 2006; Levy, Clarkin, Yeomans, et al, 2006). Due to their self-perpetuating nature, maladaptive attachment-related representations may engender further affective instability and behavioral disinhibition if left unmodified.…”

Temperamental and acute symptoms of borderline personality disorder: associations with normal personality traits and dynamic relations over time

“…The current study suggests that personality traits, and particularly neuroticism and agreeableness, are promising targets for such research. A related issue is that previous work showed that changes in FFM traits lead to changes in BPD symptoms, whereas the converse is not the case (Warner et al, 2004). This study suggests reciprocal links over time among symptom sets that also show different patterns of relation to the FFM.…”

“…A number of investigators have demonstrated specific patterns of correlations between BPD and “normal” personality traits such as the elements of the well-known Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality (see Samuel & Widiger, 2008). Research has also shown that a trait constellation linked to BPD is dynamically related to the diagnosis in a manner that suggests that trait change leads to symptom change, whereas symptom change does not lead to trait change (Warner et al, 2004). However, these studies have generally assessed these relations at the level of the BPD diagnosis, rather than potentially important sub-elements of the disorder.…”

The Challenge of Transforming the Diagnostic System of Personality Disorders

“…The CLPS data showed that trait-based descriptions performed better in predicting functioning than PD categories (Hopwood et al, 2007). There are also compelling data from other sources showing that change in personality traits predicts change in PDs but not vice versa (Warner et al, 2004), suggesting that traits more closely resemble the reality of PD than categories (Newton-Howes, Clark, & Chanen, 2015). …”