Personality Characteristics in 60 Subjects with Psychosexual Dysfunction: A Nonpatient Sample

The authors report on 60 persons with lifetime psychosexual dysfunction from a non-patient sample. The subjects were first-degree relatives of either healthy controls or patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. The diagnosis of psychosexual dysfunction was based on Diagnostic Interview Schedule results. Of the 60 subjects, 34 (56.7%) were female; the mean (SD) age of subjects was 38.1 (14.6) years. Subjects with psychosexual dysfunction were significantly less likely than those without psychosexual dysfunction to be married. After correcting for marital status, there were few differences between groups. One of the few differences was that the mean personality disorder criteria endorsed (using the Structured Interview for DSM-HI Personality Disorders—SIDP) was significantly greater among relatives with psychosexual dysfunction (p >.03). Subjects with psychosexual dysfunction (mostly lack of interest) were more likely to endorse individual items from the SIDP and the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire that indicate a problem with social uneasiness, avoidance, lack of self-confidence, and boredom. They also had significantly higher measures of orality, as assessed by the Lazare-Klerman-Armor Inventory. The authors explore the clinical significance of the findings.