An Assessment of the Convergent Validity of Two Diagnostic Measures in Relation to Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder
Open Access
Author:
Boob, Alyssa
Area of Honors:
Psychology
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Kenneth N. Levy, Thesis Supervisor Kenneth N. Levy, Thesis Honors Advisor Jeff M Love, Faculty Reader
Both the prevalence and severity of personality disorder within the population demand significant research of diagnostic and evaluative measures. Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) are two disorders that are not only associated with reduced life expectancy and increased risk of suicide (Fok et al., 2012, Oldham 2006), but also display trends in comorbidity. By utilizing NPD and BPD as focus points, the study assesses the validity of the recently developed Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM-2) measure through comparison to the widely accepted International Personality Disorder Examination (IPDE) measure. A total of 53 participants who were reliably interviewed with the IPDE and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders (SCID) were video-taped and coded with the Psychodiagnostic Chart-2 (PDC-2), a measure to assess the constructs of the PDM-2. To evaluate the validity of the PDM-2, as assessed by the PDC-2, on several levels, correlation and association analysis was computed using NPD and BPD results from the IPDE and corresponding results from the first three sections of the PDC-2. PDC-2 results included overall personality organization scores, PDC-2 P-Axis outcomes, and overall level of personality scores. Statistically significant relationships were found between IPDE and PDC-2 results for all three sections of the chart. Additionally, BPD data computations revealed stronger significance than NPD data for all three sections. The findings of our current study enhance our understanding of the measure’s applicability and usefulness in personality disorder diagnosis and assessment.
