This proposal seeks support for a prospective longitudinal multiwave panel design study of DSM-III-R (APA, 1987) Axis II personality disorder (PD) phenomenology, normal personality traits, and psychological state factors in a group of approximately 200 young adults. The proposed research would be conducted at Cornell University over a five year period and consist of three waves of data collection from the study subjects. Subjects for the proposed study would be undergraduate students who were admitted to Cornell as freshman. Clinical psychologists would conduct structured clinical interviews as well as administer a self-report measure for the assessment of PDs, administer several measures of normal personality traits, conduct a structured clinical interview to screen for psychosis and other conditions, and administer several measures of current psychological state features. The same group of subjects would be evaluated by a new examiner three times during their stay at Cornell, during their freshman, sophomore and senior years. A multiwave panel design is proposed because of its considerable methodological merit for analysis of stability and change in individual differences. The substantive goal of the study is the longitudinal investigation of stability and interrelationships among DSM-III-R PD phenomenology, normal personality traits and dimensions, and psychological state factors using a multivariate approach.
Study aims i nclude: 1) Determination of empirical relationships that may or may not exist between DSM-III_R defined PDs and contemporary approaches to normal personality measurement and classification. 2) Clarification of the congruence among contemporary PD assessment methodologies and assessment of the general construct validity of the 11 DSM-III-R personality disorders. 3) Theory-guided evaluation of the latent structure of PD phenomenology both within and across methods of clinical assessment. 4) Examination of the relative longitudinal stability of configurations of PD features and normal personality across and within individuals. 5) Examination of the extent to which the assessment of PD phenomenology and normal personality traits are affected by psychological state factors. 6) Refinement and/or elaboration of future descriptions of PD phenomenology in light of observed relationships with normal personality traits or dimensions. 7) Establishment of a sample of subjects to be followed longitudinally for long-term reassessments of PD features and personality trait-dimensions.
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