Personality disorders are highly prevalent in clinical populations and
affect outcomes across all forms of intervention. This investigation
examined the diagnostic efficiency of two widely used, self-report mea
sures of personality disorder (MMPI-2; Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tel
legen, & Kaemmer, 1989; MCMI-II; Millon, 1987), as compared to a struc
tured interview (SCID-II; Spitzer et al., 1987) diagnosis. The measure
s were administered to 150 residential and outpatient volunteer subjec
ts. Persons with primary organic or psychotic-spectrum disorders were
excluded from participation. Results were variable across disorders me
asured, with low to moderate levels of diagnostic agreement observed.
The MCMI-II appears to be a more sensitive measure, whereas the MMPI-2
is more specific. The two self-report measures demonstrated greater c
onvergence with each other than with the interview measure. Both the M
MPI-2 and MCMI-II were more accurate at identifying the absence of a g
iven disorder. Although overall diagnostic powers exist at acceptable
levels, the results suggest that diagnoses generated by self-report ve
rsus interview are not interchangeable.