title: A taxometric study of borderline personality disorder.
abstract: Taxometric methodology was used to determine whether borderline personality disorder (BPD) represents a taxon that is categorically distinct from normal personality or whether it falls on a dimensional continuum with normality. Two taxometric procedures were used with a sample of 1,389 outpatients assessed for BPD symptoms by semistructured interview. The procedures indicated that BPD does not represent a latent category. Implications are drawn for the conceptualization and etiology of BPD, and for the categorical versus dimensional status of personality disorders in general.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Rhode Island Hospital/Brown University School of Medicine, Providence, RI, USA.
authors.forename: Louis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rothschild
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cleland
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Haslam
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zimmerman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008432:Mathematical Computing; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results