IMPLICIT AND SELF-ATTRIBUTED DEPENDENCY NEEDS IN DEPENDENT AND HISTRIONIC PERSONALITY-DISORDERS

Theorists speculate that dependent personality disorder (DPD) Emd hist rionic personality disorder (HPD) are both associated with high levels of implicit (i.e., unconscious) dependency needs but speculate that o nly DPD is associated with high levels of self-attributed (i.e., consc ious) dependency needs. To test this hypothesis, 444 undergraduates (2 36 women and 208 men) completed the Personality Diagnostic Questionnai re-Revised (PDQ-R), along with widely used measures of implicit depend ency needs (the Rorschach Oral Dependency Scale; ROD), and self-attrib uted dependency needs (the Interpersonal Dependency Inventory; IDI). C orrelational analyses and comparisons of IDI and ROD scores in partici pants scoring above and below the PDQ-R DPD and HPD thresholds support ed theorists' speculations regarding implicit and self-attributed depe ndency needs in DPD and HPD. Implications of these results are discuss ed, and suggestions for future studies are offered.