Scales for Personality Disorders Developed from the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems

Diagnosing personality disorders (PDs) is both difficult and labor intensive, especially when using interview techniques. Given these constraints, examining the utility and validity of self-reports for purposes of case identification assumes greater importance. Using the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP) and a sample of 145 psychiatric patients, five new subscales were developed. Three subscales labeled “interpersonal sensitivity” (11 items), “interpersonal ambivalence” (ten items), and “aggression” (seven items) were based on items that distinguished between patients with any versus no PD. Two subscales labeled “need for social approval” (nine items) and “lack of sociability” (ten items) were based on items that distinguished between patients with a cluster C (anxious, internalizing) PD and all others. These scales reflect the nature of interpersonal problems most characteristic of patients with PDs, and initial crossvalidation demonstrated their utility as screening tools for identifying patients with any versus no PD. A continuing aim will be to investigate their use as prospective screening measures.