Hostname: page-component-6bb9c88b65-g7ldn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-07-26T09:36:25.666Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dimensional representations of DSM-IV cluster B personality disorders in a population-based sample of Norwegian twins: a multivariate study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2008

S. Torgersen ,
N. Czajkowski ,
K. Jacobson ,
T. Reichborn-Kjennerud ,
E. Røysamb ,
M. C. Neale  and
K. S. Kendler
S. Torgersen*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Eastern and Southern Norway and Nic Waal's Institute, Norway
N. Czajkowski
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Norway
K. Jacobson
Affiliation:
Division of Psychiatry, University of Chicago, IL, USA
T. Reichborn-Kjennerud
Affiliation:
Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Norway Institute of Psychiatry, University of Oslo, Norway Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
E. Røysamb
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Norway Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Norway
M. C. Neale
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Human Genetics, Medical College of Virginia of Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
K. S. Kendler
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Human Genetics, Medical College of Virginia of Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr S. Torgersen, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, PostBox 1094, Blindern, N-0317 Oslo, Norway. (Email: svenn.torgersen@psykologi.uio.no)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

The personality disorders (PDs) in the ‘dramatic’ cluster B [antisocial (ASPD), histrionic (HPD), narcissistic (NPD) and borderline (BPD)] demonstrate co-morbidity. However, the degree to which genetic and/or environmental factors influence their co-occurrence is not known and, with the exception of ASPD, the relative impact of genetic and environmental risk factors on liability to the cluster B PDs has not been conclusively established.

Method

PD traits were assessed in 1386 Norwegian twin pairs between the age of 19 and 35 years using the Structured Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders (SIDP-IV). Using the statistical package Mx, multivariate twin models were fitted to dimensional representations of the PDs.

Results

The best-fitting model, which did not include sex or shared family environment effects, included common genetic and environmental factors influencing all four dramatic PD traits, and factors influencing only ASPD and BPD. Heritability was estimated at 38% for ASPD traits, 31% for HPD traits, 24% for NPD traits and 35% for BPD traits. BPD traits had the lowest and ASPD traits the highest disorder-specific genetic variance.

Conclusion

The frequently observed co-morbidity between cluster B PDs results from both common genetic and environmental influences. Etiologically, cluster B has a ‘substructure’ in which ASPD and BPD are more closely related to each other than to the other cluster B disorders.

Keywords

Antisocialborderlinegenetichistrionicnarcissistic

Information

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 38 , Issue 11 , November 2008 , pp. 1617 - 1625
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Akaike, H (1987). Factor analysis and AIC. Psychometrica 52, 317–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
APA (1980). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd edn. American Psychiatric Association: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Cloninger, CR, Reich, TSB, Guze, SB (1975). The multifactorial model of disease transmission: III. Familial relationship between sociopathy and hysteria (Briquet's syndrome). British Journal of Psychiatry 12, 23–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coolidge, FL, Thede, LL, Jang, KL (2001). Heritability of personality disorders in childhood: a preliminary investigation. Journal of Personality Disorders 15, 33–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costa, PT, McCrae, RR (1990). Personality disorders and the five-factor model of personality. Journal of Personality Disorders 4, 362–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fossati, A, Maffei, C, Bagnoto, M, Battaglia, M, Donati, D, Donimi, M, Fiorilli, M, Novella, L, Prolo, F (2000). Pattern of covariation of DSM-IV personality disorders in a mixed psychiatric sample. Comprehensive Psychiatry 41, 206–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grilo, C, McGlashan, T (2000). Convergent and discriminant validity of DSM-IV axis II personality disorder criteria in adult outpatients with binge eating disorder. Comprehensive Psychiatry 41, 163–166.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harris, JR, Magnus, P, Tambs, K (2002). The Norwegian Institute of Public Health Twin Panel: a description of the sample and program of research. Twin Research 5, 415–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helgeland, MI, Torgersen, S (2004). Developmental antecedents of borderline personality disorder. Comprehensive Psychiatry 45, 138–147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jang, KL, Livesley, WJ, Vernon, PA, Jackson, DN (1996). Heritability of personality disorder traits: a twin study. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia 94, 438–444.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jöreskog, KG, Sörbom, D (1993). LISREL 8: Structural Equation Modeling with the SIMPLIS Command Language. Scientific Software International, Inc.: Chicago.Google Scholar
Kendler, KS, Czajkowski, N, Tambs, K, Torgersen, S, Aggen, SH, Neal, MS, Reichborn-Kjennerud, T (2006). Dimensional representations of DSM-IV cluster A personality disorders in a population-based sample of Norwegian twins: a multivariate study. Psychological Medicine 36, 1583–1596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lake, R, Eaves, L, Maes, H, Heath, A, Martin, N (2000). Further evidence against the environmental transmission of individual differences in neuroticism from a collaborative study of 45 850 twins and relatives on two continents. Behavior Genetics 30, 223–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Livesley, WJ, Jang, KL, Vernon, PA (1998). Phenotypic and genetic structure of traits delineating personality disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry 55, 941–948.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moldin, S, Rice, J, Erlenmeyer-Kimling, L, Squires-Wheeler, E (1994). Latent structure of DSM-III-R axis II psychopathology in a normal sample. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 103, 259–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morey, LC, Alexander, GM, Boggs, C (2005). Gender. In Textbook of Personality Disorders (ed. Oldham, J. M., Skodol, A. E. and Bender, D. S.), pp. 541–560. American Psychiatric Publishing: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Neale, MC, Eaves, LJ, Kendler, KS (1994). The power of the classical twin study to resolve variation in threshold traits. Behavior Genetics 24, 239–258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neale, MC, Røysamb, E, Jacobson, K (2006). Multivariate genetic analysis of sex limitation and G×E interaction. Twin Research and Human Genetics 9, 481–489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nestadt, G, Eaton, WW, Romanoski, AJ, Garrison, R, Folstein, MF, McHugh, PR (1994). Assessment of DSM-III personality structure in a general-population survey. Comprehensive Psychiatry 35, 54–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pfohl, B, Blum, N, Zimmerman, M (1995). Structured Interview for DSM-IV Personality: SIDP-IV. American Psychiatric Press: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Reichborn-Kjennerud, T, Czaikowski, N, Neale, MS, Ørstavik, RE, Torgersen, S, Tambs, K, Røysamb, E, Harris, JR, Kendler, KS (2007). Genetic and environmental influences on dimensional representations of DSM-IV cluster C personality disorders: a population-based multivariate twin study. Psychological Medicine 37, 645–653.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rhee, SH, Waldman, ID (2002). Genetic and environmental influences on antisocial behavior: a meta-analysis of twin and adoption studies. Psychological Bulletin 128, 490–529.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
SAS Consulting, Department of Statistics (2002). SAS OnlineDoc Version 9.1.3 (8). SAS Institute Inc: Cary, NC.Google Scholar
Saulsman, L, Page, A (2004). The five-factor model and personality disorder empirical literature: a meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review 23, 1055–1085.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Saulsman, L, Page, A (2005). Corrigendum to ‘The five-factor model and personality disorder empirical literature: a meta-analytic review’. Clinical Psychology Review 25, 383–394.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soldz, S, Budman, S, Demby, A, Merry, J (1993). Representation of personality disorders in circumplex and five-factor space: exploration with a clinical sample. Psychological Assessment 5, 41–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torgersen, S (2005 a). Behavioral genetics of personality. Current Psychiatry Report 7, 51–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Torgersen, S (2005 b). Epidemiology. In Textbook of Personality Disorders (ed. Oldham, J. M., Skodol, A. E. and Bender, D. S.), pp. 129–142. American Psychiatric Publishing: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Torgersen, S, Kringlen, E, Cramer, V (2001). The prevalence of personality disorders in a community sample. Archives of General Psychiatry 58, 590–596.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torgersen, S, Lygren, S, Øien, P, Skre, I, Onstad, S, Edvardsen, J, Tambs, K, Kringlen, E (2000). A twin study of personality disorders. Comprehensive Psychiatry 41, 416–425.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trull, TJ (1992). DSM-III-R personality disorders and the five-factor model of personality: an empirical comparison. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 101, 553–560.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zimmerman, M, Coryell, W (1989). DSM-III personality disorder diagnoses in a nonpatient sample. Demographic correlates and comorbidity. Archives of General Psychiatry 46, 682–689.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zimmerman, M, Coryell, W (1990). DSM-III personality disorder dimensions. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 178, 686–692.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zimmerman, M, Rotschild, L, Chelminski, I (2005). The prevalence of DSM-IV personality disorders in psychiatric outpatients. American Journal of Psychiatry 162, 1911–1918.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed