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Psychological Medicine Psychological Medicine

Article contents

Joint factorial structure of psychopathology and personality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2018

Tom Rosenström [Opens in a new window] ,
Line C. Gjerde ,
Robert F. Krueger ,
Steven H. Aggen ,
Nikolai Olavi Czajkowski ,
Nathan A. Gillespie ,
Kenneth S. Kendler ,
Ted Reichborn-Kjennerud ,
Fartein Ask Torvik  and
Eivind Ystrom
Tom Rosenström
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Disorders, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway Department of Psychology and Logopedics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Line C. Gjerde
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Disorders, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Robert F. Krueger
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
Steven H. Aggen
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
Nikolai Olavi Czajkowski
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Disorders, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Nathan A. Gillespie
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
Kenneth S. Kendler
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Deparment of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
Ted Reichborn-Kjennerud
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Disorders, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Fartein Ask Torvik
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Disorders, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Eivind Ystrom
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Disorders, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway PharmacoEpidemiology and Drug Safety Research Group, School of Pharmacy, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Corresponding
E-mail address:
tom.rosenstrom@helsinki.fi
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Abstract

Background

Normative and pathological personality traits have rarely been integrated into a joint large-scale structural analysis with psychiatric disorders, although a recent study suggested they entail a common individual differences continuum.

Methods

We explored the joint factor structure of 11 psychiatric disorders, five personality-disorder trait domains (DSM-5 Section III), and five normative personality trait domains (the ‘Big Five’) in a population-based sample of 2796 Norwegian twins, aged 19‒46.

Results

Three factors could be interpreted: (i) a general risk factor for all psychopathology, (ii) a risk factor specific to internalizing disorders and traits, and (iii) a risk factor specific to externalizing disorders and traits. Heritability estimates for the three risk factor scores were 48% (95% CI 41‒54%), 35% (CI 28‒42%), and 37% (CI 31‒44%), respectively. All 11 disorders had uniform loadings on the general factor (congruence coefficient of 0.991 with uniformity). Ignoring sign and excluding the openness trait, this uniformity of factor loadings held for all the personality trait domains and all disorders (congruence 0.983).

Conclusions

Based on our findings, future research should investigate joint etiologic and transdiagnostic models for normative and pathological personality and other psychopathology.

Keywords

Behavior genetics Big Five personality traits DSM-5 Section III personality traits factor analysis p factor psychiatric comorbidity
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 49 , Issue 13 , October 2019 , pp. 2158 - 2167
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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Footnotes

†

Joint senior authors.

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