title: Rigid and extreme: a geometric representation of personality disorders in five-factor model space.
abstract: Personality disorder rigidity and extremity can be geometrically defined and operationalized within the 5-factor model (FFM) of personality. A series of geometric and substantive assumptions were derived and then tested in samples of college students (N = 1,323) and psychiatric patients (N = 86). Normal and disordered personalities were found to coexist in a variety of regions of the FFM multivariate space. Within regions, the profiles of normal and disordered personalities were very similar in characteristic configuration but notably different in profile variability. Personality-disordered individuals tended to be located in the perimeters or outer regions of the FFM space, as indicated by their longer vector lengths. These findings generalized across 2 measures of personality disorders and across 2 measures of normal personality traits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. brain.oconnor@lakeheadu.ca
authors.forename: B P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Dyce
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*