The Placement of Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms Within a Five-Factor Model of Maladaptive Personality

• Published in: Assessment (Odessa, Fla.) Fla.), 2023-04, Vol.30 (3), p.891-906
• Main Authors: Cooper, Samuel E., Hunt, Christopher, Stasik-O’Brien, Sara M., Berg, Hannah, Lissek, Shmuel, Watson, David, Krueger, Robert F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; Humans; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - diagnosis; Personality; Personality Disorders - diagnosis; Problem Behavior
• ISSN: 1073-1911; 1552-3489
• DOI: 10.1177/10731911211070623

Dimensional models of obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms, as seen in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), are instrumental in explaining the heterogeneity observed in this condition and for informing cutting-edge assessments. Prior structural work in this area finds that OC symptoms cross-load under both Negative Affectivity and Psychoticism traits within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5) Alternative Model of Personality Disorder (AMPD). However, tests of OC symptoms in conjunction with assessments of the full AMPD structure and its 25 lower-level facets representing narrower symptom content are lacking. We applied joint exploratory factor analysis to an AMPD measure (Personality Inventory for DSM-5; PID-5) and OC symptom data from two separate samples (total N = 1,506) to locate OC symptoms within AMPD space. OC symptoms cross-loaded on Negative Affectivity, Psychoticism, and on the low end of Disinhibition. We also report exploratory analyses of OC symptom subscales with PID-5 variables. Results are discussed in the context OC symptoms’ location in PID-5 space, implications for assessment, and placement of OCD within the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology.