Four promising approaches from personality psychology are assessed for
validity and clinical utility - Allport's theory of personality; the
five-factor model (FFM); the Interpersonal Circle (IPC), first applied
to clinical problems by Leary; and Structural Analysis of Social Beha
vior (SASB), applied in a Trait x State x Situation context. The FFM (
derived from Jackson's Personality Research Form), IPC (as measured by
Wiggins's Interpersonal Adjective Scales-Revised [IAS-R], and SASB (a
s measured by Intrex questionnaires) approaches were compared in a sam
ple of 73 hospitalized psychiatric inpatients. The FFM showed moderate
structural validity. Correspondences between theory and data for IAS-
R and for SASB were better. Each of the three approaches yielded signi
ficant differences among Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental D
isorders (DSM) diagnostic groups. Canonical Rs between the symptoms of
anxiety and depression and the three selected social measures also we
re significant. Clearly, there were associations among these personali
ty measures, psychiatric symptoms, and diagnosis. It is suggested that
clinical usefulness is greater for models that invoke hypothetical co
nstructs (e.g., IPC, SASB) than for models that are purely descriptive
(e.g., FFM). The SASB model is preferable for clinical use because, c
ompared to the IPC, it is able to describe more features of personalit
y. Recent applications of the SASB model to DSM categories of personal
ity are expected to improve reliability of diagnosis. The SASB model a
lso has generated testable and refutable hypotheses about psychosocial
causes of personality problems. These formulations have clear psychot
herapeutic implications.