title: The heritability of Cluster B personality disorders assessed both by personal interview and questionnaire.
abstract: Whereas the heritability of common personality traits has been firmly established, the results of the few published studies on personality disorders (PDs) are highly divergent, with some studies finding high heredity and others very low. A problem with assessing personality disorders by means of interview is errors connected with interviewer bias. A way to overcome the problem is to use self-report questionnaires in addition to interviews. This study used both interview and questionnaire for assessing DSM-IV Cluster B personality disorders: antisocial personality disorder (APD), borderline (BPD), narcissistic (NPD), and histrionic (HPD).   We assessed close to 2,800 twins from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health Twin Panel using a self-report questionnaire and, a few years later, the Structured Interview for DSM-IV Personality (SIDP-IV). Items from the self-report questionnaire that best predicted the PDs captured by the interview were then selected. Measurement models combining questionnaire and interview information were applied and were fitted using Mx.   Whereas the heritability of Cluster B PDs assessed by interview was around .30, and around .40-.50 when assessed by self-report questionnaire, the heritability of the convergent latent factor, including information from both interview and self-report questionnaire was .69 for APD, .67 for BPD, .71 for NPD, and .63 for HPD. As is usually found for personality, the effect of shared-in families (familial) environment was zero.   In conclusion, when both interview and self-report questionnaire are taken into account, the heritability of Cluster B PD appears to be in the upper range of previous findings for mental disorders.
authors.affiliation: Center for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Eastern and Southern Norway, PO Box 4623, Nydalen, NO-0405 Oslo, Norway. svenn.torgersen@psykologi.uio.no
authors.forename: Svenn
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Torgersen
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Myers
authors.forename: Ted
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Reichborn-Kjennerud
authors.forename: Espen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Røysamb
authors.forename: Thomas S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Kubarych
authors.forename: Kenneth S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kendler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004200:Diseases in Twins / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009664:Norway; D010551:Personality / Q000235:genetics*; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D057566:Self Report; D012931:Social Environment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014427:Twins / Q000235:genetics