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Personality disorders affect a high percentage of clinical and nonclinical adults. Unfortunately, methodological problems have hindered the accurate and efficient identification of adults with personality disorders. The present study utilized a new assessment procedure based on aggregation over time and across measures in order to ensure temporal stability and consistency across measures. Using the dependent personality as a prototype, subjects found to display elevated levels of dependency that were stable over 6 weeks time and across two measures were compared to subjects low in dependency. An additional group of subjects reporting unstable levels of dependency were included to represent false-positive diagnoses. Results showed that these procedures were useful for ensuring the accuracy of personality assessment, helping to control for temporary factors that may effect personality assessment. These procedures should facilitate personality disorder research conducted with clinical and nonclinical populations, and may reduce the impact of various environmental and emotional factors that can influence personality assessment.
James C. Overholser (Tue,) studied this question.