title: On the relationship of the five-factor personality model to personality disorders: four reservations.
abstract: McCrae and Costa since 1986 have proferred a five-factor personality model as a lingua franca among different psychometric test users, and they suggest that their operationalization of the five-factor model, the NEO Personality Inventory, may also be useful in the clinical assessment of the abnormal personality. The present study examined the inventory and its relationship to the 11 personality disorders of Axis II of DSM-III-R in a sample of 180 adults. Correlational multivariate analyses appear to indicate a limited usefulness of the five-factor model in the understanding of personality disorders, and four major objections are offered. Further research with clinical samples, other models of personality, and other measures of personality disorders are encouraged.
authors.affiliation: Psychology Department, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs 80933-7150.
authors.forename: F L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Coolidge
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: DiRito
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Durham
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Kinlaw
authors.forename: P B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Philbrick
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results