Assessing adolescent personality pathology

Personality pathology constitutes a major form of psychopathology in adolescents. To examine the reliability and validity of a Q-sort instrument for assessing adolescent personality pathology designed for clinically experienced informants. A sample of 294 randomly selected psychiatrists and psycholo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:British journal of psychiatry 2005-03, Vol.186 (3), p.227-238
Main Authors: Westen, Drew, Dutra, Lissa, Shedler, Jonathan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptive behavior
Adolescent
Adolescent Behavior
Adolescents
Adults
Anxiety Disorders - diagnosis
Assessment
Child & adolescent psychiatry
Child Behavior Checklist
Classification
Criminality
Emotional behavior
Emotional regulation
Factor analysis
Factor Analysis, Statistical
Female
Five factor model
Humans
Interviews
Juvenile Delinquency
Male
Malignant
Mental depression
Mental disorders
Mental health
Narcissism
Pathology
Peer rejection
Personality
Personality disorders
Personality Disorders - diagnosis
Personality traits
Prototypes
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Psychiatrists
Psychiatry
Psychological well being
Psychologists
Psychopathology
Q sorts
Q-Sort
Reliability
Reproducibility of Results
Schizophrenia
Schizotypal personality
Schizotypal Personality Disorder - diagnosis
Sexual Behavior
Sexualization
Suicides & suicide attempts
Teenagers
USA
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Summary:Personality pathology constitutes a major form of psychopathology in adolescents. To examine the reliability and validity of a Q-sort instrument for assessing adolescent personality pathology designed for clinically experienced informants. A sample of 294 randomly selected psychiatrists and psychologists each provided data on a current patient, aged 14-18 years. Clinicians completed several measures, including the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure for Adolescents (SWAP-200-A). Factor analysis identified II dimensions of adolescent personality: psychopathology/malignant narcissism, dysphoria/inhibition, psychological health, histrionic sexualisation, schizotypy, sexual conflict, emotional dysregulation, anxious obsessionality, peer rejection, delinquent behaviour and attentional dysregulation. These correlated in predicted ways with a range of criterion variables, including measures of adaptive functioning, Axis II pathology, the Five Factor Model and the Child Behavior Checklist. The SWAP-200-A shows promise as an instrument for assessing personality pathology in adolescents. Trait dimensions such as delinquent behaviour and emotional dysregulation may prove useful additions to a classification of personality.
ISSN:0007-1250
1472-1465
DOI:10.1192/bjp.186.3.227