General psychopathology factor and borderline personality disorder: Evidence for substantial overlap from two nationally representative surveys of U.S. adults.

= 5,001). Structural equation modeling was used to fit a bifactor general psychopathology model and to examine the general psychopathology factor's associations with (a) a series of Clusters A, B, and C personality disorder symptoms including BPD symptoms and (b) a latent BPD. Results showed that the shared variance between the general psychopathology factor and a latent BPD was 56% in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication and 71% in the National Comorbidity Survey follow-up. The correlation between the general factor and BPD could be set to unity without worsening model fit, suggesting that BPD closely reflects a general liability to psychopathology. The affective features of BPD were particularly strongly associated with the general psychopathology factor. Findings are discussed with respect to the nosology of BPD and the treatment of mental disorders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).