Understanding personality pathology in a clinical sample of youth: study protocol for the longitudinal research project 'APOLO'

Introduction We propose that a dimensional, multilayered perspective is well suited to study maladaptive personality development in youth. Such a perspective can help understand pathways to personality pathology and contribute to its early detection. The research project 'APOLO' (a Dutch language acronym for Adolescents and their Personality Development: a Longitudinal Study) is designed based on McAdams' integrative three-layered model of personality development and assesses the interaction between dispositional traits, characteristic adaptations, the narrative identity and functioning. Methods and analysis APOLO is a longitudinal research project that takes place in two outpatient mental healthcare centres. Participants are youth between 12 years and 23 years and their parents. Data collection is set up to build a data set for scientific research, as well as to use the data for diagnostic assessment and systematic treatment evaluation of individual patients. Measurements are conducted half-yearly for a period of 3 years and consist of self-report and informant-report questionnaires and a semistructured interview. The included constructs fit the dimensional model of personality development: maladaptive personality traits (dispositional traits), social relations, stressful life events (characteristic adaptations), a turning point (narrative identity) and functioning (eg, achievement of youth specific milestones). Primary research questions will be analysed using structural equation modelling. Ethics and dissemination The results will contribute to our understanding of (the development of) personality pathology as a complex phenomenon in which both structural personality characteristics as well as unique individual adaptations and experiences play a role. Furthermore, results will give directions for early detection and timely interventions. This study has been approved by the ethical review committee of the Utrecht University Faculty for Social and Behavioural Sciences (FETC17-092). Data distribution will be anonymous and results will be disseminated via communication canals appropriate for diverse audiences. This includes both clinical and scientific conferences, papers published in national and international peer-reviewed journals and (social) media platforms

The Relation Between Self-Event Connections and Personality Functioning in Youth with Severe Psychopathology

OBJECTIVE: One way in which individuals construct their narrative identity is by making self-event connections, which are often linked to better functioning. Being unable to make connections is related to identity discontinuity and psychopathology. Work in the general population corroborates this association, but also highlights the importance of focusing on specific aspects of these connections and on vulnerable populations. METHOD: We examined the association of self-event connections with personality functioning in youth with severe psychopathology (cross-sectional N = 228, Mage = 19.5, longitudinal N = 84), and the role of event and connection valence in the subsample of youth who made a connection (n = 188 and n = 68). Negative affectivity was controlled for in all models. RESULTS: We found no evidence that self-event connections, nor connection valence and its interaction with event valence, are related to functioning. Positive event valence was associated with better functioning. Higher negative affectivity was strongly linked to lower functioning and explained the relation between event valence and functioning. No longitudinal associations emerged. CONCLUSIONS: These findings show that for youth with severe psychopathology making self-event connections may not be associated with better functioning. Moreover, negative affectivity may be a distal predictor of both event valence and functioning

Shared Human and Unique Individual Experiences: Personality Development in Vulnerable Youth

Personality development is a shared human and a unique individual experience. This dissertation describes both perspectives in the exploration of personality development of vulnerable youth. By examining personality traits, characteristic ways of adapting to the environment, narrative identity, and functioning – following an integrative model described by D. McAdams – the studies shed light on maladaptive pathways of personality development. Understanding such pathways may additionally contribute to a developmentally sensitive and dimensional perspective on personality pathology. First, this dissertation focusses on adaptive and maladaptive personality traits and their cross-sectional or longitudinal associations with social problems, relationships with parents and symptoms. Generally, we find that the personality traits of youth, and particularly neuroticism, are meaningfully associated with these constructs. However, differences concerning specific trait profiles or levels of social problems or symptoms, emphasize the particularities of personality development, next to its generalities. These shared and unique characteristics are also represented in the narrative identity, which is the second focus of this dissertation. Through the lens of turning point narratives, stories about moments that describe a change in one’s perspective on the self, others or life in general, these studies consider such meaning making in relation to personality traits and functioning. We find that general characteristics of these highly unique stories, namely a negative valence, little agentic or communal language and negative self-event connections, are associated with maladaptive personality development. Taken together, we conclude that both the general and the particular – the nomothetic and the idiographic – perspectives are necessary for understanding personality development in vulnerable youth

Correlates between Five-Factor Model traits and the Revised Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines dimensions in an adolescent clinical sample

OBJECTIVE Extensive evidence supports the association between Five-Factor Model (FFM) traits involving high neuroticism, low agreeableness and low conscientiousness and borderline personality disorder (BPD) characteristics, particularly among adults in community samples. However, studies supporting this link in adolescent samples are relatively limited, and few studies have examined the links between FFM traits and specific dimensions of BPD, such as those distinguished by the Revised Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines (DIB-R). In this study, we examined associations between FFM traits and BPD characteristics in a group of clinical and non-clinical adolescents. METHOD We evaluated the correlations between the FFM personality traits, as measured by the NEO-Five-Factor Inventory and BPD characteristics as measured by the DIB-R in a sample of adolescents (N = 162). RESULTS Consistent with previous research, BPD dimensions were highly associated with high neuroticism, low conscientiousness, low agreeableness and to a somewhat lesser extent with low extraversion. Specificity of associations between FFM traits and DIB-R section scores was limited, in part because of strong intercorrelations among DIB-R scores. DISCUSSION These results imply that evidence about trait-BPD associations in adult samples generalizes well to adolescents. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed

Correlates between Five-Factor Model traits and the Revised Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines dimensions in an adolescent clinical sample.

ObjectiveExtensive evidence supports the association between Five-Factor Model (FFM) traits involving high neuroticism, low agreeableness and low conscientiousness and borderline personality disorder (BPD) characteristics, particularly among adults in community samples. However, studies supporting this link in adolescent samples are relatively limited, and few studies have examined the links between FFM traits and specific dimensions of BPD, such as those distinguished by the Revised Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines (DIB-R). In this study, we examined associations between FFM traits and BPD characteristics in a group of clinical and non-clinical adolescents.MethodWe evaluated the correlations between the FFM personality traits, as measured by the NEO-Five-Factor Inventory and BPD characteristics as measured by the DIB-R in a sample of adolescents (N = 162).ResultsConsistent with previous research, BPD dimensions were highly associated with high neuroticism, low conscientiousness, low agreeableness and to a somewhat lesser extent with low extraversion. Specificity of associations between FFM traits and DIB-R section scores was limited, in part because of strong intercorrelations among DIB-R scores.DiscussionThese results imply that evidence about trait-BPD associations in adult samples generalizes well to adolescents. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed

A psychometric evaluation of a reduced version of the PID-5 in clinical and non-clinical adolescents

A dimensional perspective on personality pathology in which trait assessment plays an important role has been proposed in the DSM-5, as represented in the PID-5 measure. In an attempt to increase the feasibility of the personality disorder (PD) assessment process, Maples and colleagues constructed a reduced, 100-item version of the PID-5. This study aimed to replicate and extend previous findings on the psychometric properties of this 100-item PID-5 relying on a non-clinical (N = 100) and a clinical (N 101) sample of mid-adolescents, as well as a non-clinical (N = 218) and a clinical (N = 212) sample of late-adolescents. Results indicate that the psychometric properties of the 100-item PID-5 are adequate and similar to the original PID-5 in all samples. Our study provides evidence for extended applicability of the 100-item PID-5 for both clinical and non-clinical adolescent

Understanding personality pathology in a clinical sample of youth: study protocol for the longitudinal research project 'APOLO'

Introduction We propose that a dimensional, multilayered perspective is well suited to study maladaptive personality development in youth. Such a perspective can help understand pathways to personality pathology and contribute to its early detection. The research project 'APOLO' (a Dutch language acronym for Adolescents and their Personality Development: a Longitudinal Study) is designed based on McAdams' integrative three-layered model of personality development and assesses the interaction between dispositional traits, characteristic adaptations, the narrative identity and functioning. Methods and analysis APOLO is a longitudinal research project that takes place in two outpatient mental healthcare centres. Participants are youth between 12 years and 23 years and their parents. Data collection is set up to build a data set for scientific research, as well as to use the data for diagnostic assessment and systematic treatment evaluation of individual patients. Measurements are conducted half-yearly for a period of 3 years and consist of self-report and informant-report questionnaires and a semistructured interview. The included constructs fit the dimensional model of personality development: maladaptive personality traits (dispositional traits), social relations, stressful life events (characteristic adaptations), a turning point (narrative identity) and functioning (eg, achievement of youth specific milestones). Primary research questions will be analysed using structural equation modelling. Ethics and dissemination The results will contribute to our understanding of (the development of) personality pathology as a complex phenomenon in which both structural personality characteristics as well as unique individual adaptations and experiences play a role. Furthermore, results will give directions for early detection and timely interventions. This study has been approved by the ethical review committee of the Utrecht University Faculty for Social and Behavioural Sciences (FETC17-092). Data distribution will be anonymous and results will be disseminated via communication canals appropriate for diverse audiences. This includes both clinical and scientific conferences, papers published in national and international peer-reviewed journals and (social) media platforms

The Relation Between Self-Event Connections and Personality Functioning in Youth with Severe Psychopathology

OBJECTIVE: One way in which individuals construct their narrative identity is by making self-event connections, which are often linked to better functioning. Being unable to make connections is related to identity discontinuity and psychopathology. Work in the general population corroborates this association, but also highlights the importance of focusing on specific aspects of these connections and on vulnerable populations. METHOD: We examined the association of self-event connections with personality functioning in youth with severe psychopathology (cross-sectional N = 228, Mage = 19.5, longitudinal N = 84), and the role of event and connection valence in the subsample of youth who made a connection (n = 188 and n = 68). Negative affectivity was controlled for in all models. RESULTS: We found no evidence that self-event connections, nor connection valence and its interaction with event valence, are related to functioning. Positive event valence was associated with better functioning. Higher negative affectivity was strongly linked to lower functioning and explained the relation between event valence and functioning. No longitudinal associations emerged. CONCLUSIONS: These findings show that for youth with severe psychopathology making self-event connections may not be associated with better functioning. Moreover, negative affectivity may be a distal predictor of both event valence and functioning