AVOIDANT PERSONALITY-DISORDER - EMPIRICAL SUPPORT FOR DSM-IV REVISIONS

This article attempts to answer three questions about avoidant persona lity disorder (AVPD): (a) Is it a coherent unidimensional entity, (b) Is the requirement that four or more of the criteria be met in order t o make the diagnosis justified, and (c) Are the changes made in DSM-IV supported? Four hundred thirty-four people presenting for treatment f or anxiety were assessed with the Personality Disorder Examination. Th e criteria met were factor analyzed to indicate the unidimensionality of the diagnosis, Measures of internal consistency were calculated to validate the instruction to diagnose AVPD if four or more criteria wer e observed. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that a single factor w as the best fit to the observed pattern of relationships between the s even AVPD criteria. The internal consistency of the seven criteria was moderate (Cronbach's alpha = .76) with a median intercriterion correl ation of .29. The data provided good support for the hypothesis that t he seven DSM-III-R AVPD criteria assess a single dimension. Three of t he criteria did not reflect this factor as highly as the remaining fou r and these three have either been dropped in DSM-IV or substantially revised.