Je. Kurtz et al., THE CONCURRENT VALIDITY OF 3 SELF-REPORT MEASURES OF BORDERLINE PERSONALITY, Journal of psychopathology and behavioral assessment, 15(3), 1993, pp. 255-266
The recent accumulation of self-report measures of borderline personal
ity disorder (BPD) affords the opportunity to evaluate both the constr
uct validity of the concept and the quality of these measures. This st
udy examines the relationship among three recently developed self-repo
rt instruments for assessing BPD from the Personality Assessment Inven
tory (PAI; Morey, 1991), the MMPI Personality Disorders Scales (MPD; M
orey, Waugh, & Blashfield, 1985), and the Bell Object Relations Invent
ory (BORI; Bell, Billington, & Becker, 1986). Data on the three measur
es were provided by 119 undergraduate subjects from a southeastern uni
versity. A correlational analysis addresses the convergence of these m
easures of BPD, their divergence from measures of different but relate
d traits, and their independence from variance due to method. Applicat
ion of the Campbell-Fiske (1959) criteria indicates adequate convergen
ce for all the BPD measures but a lack of discriminant validity for th
e BORI scales. The fit of the data to a structural model of construct
validity is tested using confirmatory factor analysis, and these resul
ts are consistent with the hypothesis of a latent borderline trait fac
tor independent of measurement method factors. In sum, the construct v
alidity of the borderline personality concept using self-report method
ologies receives support, and a strong association between borderline
personality and paranoid phenomena is also suggested.