Testing Relationships between DSM-5 Section III Maladaptive Traits and Measures of Self and Interpersonal Impairment in Italian Community Dwelling Adults

In order to study the relationships between DSM-5 Section III maladaptive personality traits and personality dysfunction, 312 Italian community dwelling adults completed the Italian translations of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5) and the Measure of Disordered Personality Functioning Scale (MDPF); participants were also administered the Iowa Personality Disorder Screen (IPDS). Consistent with previous findings, 22 (88.0%) PID-5 maladaptive trait scales showed moderate and significant correlations with MDPF Non Coping (median r value = .32), and Non Cooperativeness, (median r value = .24) scales. Regression analyses showed that PID-5 trait scales explained roughly 59% and 35% of the variance in MDPF Non Coping and Non Cooperativeness scales, respectively. PID-5 traits were significantly associated also with the IPDS total score, adjusted R² = .45, p < .001. As a whole, our data seemed to indicate that the wide majority of the PID-5 scales showed significant relationships of at least moderate size with a self-report measure of personality dysfunction, lending further support to the criterion validity of the PID-5.