A cross-cultural study of the higher-order structures underlying personality disorders in French-speaking Africa and Switzerland.
Most studies about the higher-order dimensions to be considered in order to parsimoniously describe Personality Disorders (PDs) have identified between two and four factors but there is still no consensus about their exact number. In this context, the cultural stability of these structures might be a criterion to be considered. The aim of this study was to identify stable higher-order structures of PD traits in a French-speaking African and Swiss sample (N = 2,711). All subjects completed the IPDE screening questionnaire. Using Everett's criterion and conducting a series of principal component analyses, a cross-culturally stable two- and four-factor structure were identified, associated with a total congruence coefficient of .98 and .94, respectively, after Procrustes rotation. Moreover, these two structures were also highly replicable across the four African regions considered, North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa, and Mauritius, with a mean total congruence coefficient of .97 and .87, respectively. The four-factor structure presented the advantage of being similar to Livesely's four components and of describing the ten PDs more accurately.
Rigozzi
Christine
C
University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
Rossier
Jérôme
J
Dahourou
Donatien
D
Adjahouisso
Marcel
M
Ah-Kion
Jennifer
J
Amoussou-Yeye
Denis
D
Barry
Oumar
O
Bhowon
Uma
U
Bouatta
Cherifa
C
Cissé
Daouda Dougoumalé
DD
Mbodji
Mamadou
M
Meyer de Stadelhofen
Franz
F
Minga
David Minga
DM
Tseung
Caroline Ng
CN
Ondongo
François
F
Romdhane
Mohamed Nouri
MN
Sfayhi
Nicole
N
Tsokini
Dieudonné
D
Verardi
Sabrina
S
D000328:Adult; D000349:Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology*; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012016:Reference Values; D012919:Social Behavior