Relationships between tridimensional personality questionnaire dimensions and DSM-III-R personality traits in Italian adolescents

The predictions of Cloninger's neurobiologic learning model on the relation ships between novelty seeking (NS), harm avoidance (HA), reward dependence (RD), and persistence (P) and the traditional DSM-III-R personality disorde rs (PDs) were tested on a sample of 2,889 (1,475 males and 1,414 females) I talian high school students aged 16 to 18 years, using the Structured Clini cal Interview for DSM-III-R Personality Disorders-self-report (SCID-II) and the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ), All relationships were in the predicted direction for antisocial, narcissistic, avoidant, and obs essive-compulsive PD alone, and at least two were in the predicted directio n for schizoid, histrionic, borderline-explosive. dependent, and passive-ag gressive PD. Eight of nine relationships were in the predicted direction fo r NS, but only seven of nine for HA and RD. This study provides substantial support for Cloninger's neurobiologic learning model as a useful tool to d escribe and classify personality variants and, because of the supposed neor ochemical implications, to link personality traits to the underlying neuroc hemical and neuroanatomic substrate. Copyright (C) 2000 by W.B. Saunders Co mpany.