Predicting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders‐IV personality disorders with the five‐factor model of personality and the personality psychopathology five

The five‐factor model of personality (FFM), derived from personality trait psychology, is increasingly used to describe personality disorders (PDs). Critics have argued, however, that the personality traits of the FFM fail to capture adequately the full range of personality psychopathology. In this investigation, the personality domains of the personality psychopathology five (PSY‐5), an alternative model designed specifically to assess pathological traits, were compared to the domain traits from the FFM in the prediction of the PD symptom counts. The personality traits from both dimensional models were assessed in a sample of 138 psychiatric patients with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory‐2 (MMPI‐2) and the revised NEO personality inventory (NEO PI‐R), respectively. Both instruments significantly predicted all 10 PD symptoms and contributed on average an additional 10% of the variance beyond that predicted by the other instrument. Whereas the MMPI‐2 PSY‐5 scales were comparatively better predictors of paranoid, schizotypal, narcissistic and antisocial PD symptom counts, the NEO PI‐R domain scales outperformed the MMPI‐2 PSY‐5 scales in the prediction of borderline, avoidant and dependent PD symptom counts.