Envy manifestations and personality disorders

Personality disorders are frequently associated with socially unacceptable behaviours that might not always considered deviant. On the other hand, env y has been linked with various forms of maladjustment such interpersonal co nflicts, low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, aggressiveness, and even cri minal behaviour such vandalism and even murder. According to the DSM-IV, no ne of the personality disorders, except the personality, is formally associ ated with envy. Nevertheless, this 'deadly sin' is so omnipresent in human that it cannot be restricted only to the narcissistic personalities. Most s cholars recognise that people would deny they envy someone else since envy is socially considered as highly undesirable; verbal reports are expected t o biased. To circumvent this difficulty, a projective questionnaire is prop osed. We constructed two questionnaires: direct version (DV) and an indirec t version (IV). The sample consisted of 786 students from high school and R esults suggest that the indirect version provides a more accurate assessmen t of envy. (C) 2000 Editions medicales Elsevier SAS.