Personality disorder in university students: A multitrait-multimethod matrix study

The present study examined the prevalence of personality disorders (PDs) in a sample of first-year university students. The three self-report measures used to assess personality disorders were the (a) Coolidge Axis II Invento ry (CATI); Ib) Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II (MCMI-II); and (c) M innesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Personality Disorder Scale (MMPI -PD), The prevalence of PD was estimated by including the number of partici pants above the cut-off scores selected for each of the three PD instrument s. The results indicate prevalence in the range of 0% to 16% for the males, and approximately 1% to 26% for the females. These findings generally conf irm the prevalence range of 5% to 15% reported in other investigations of n onpatient samples. With few exceptions, the three tests are generally consi stent in their estimates of PD prevalence of all the 11 personality disorde rs. The multitrait-multimethod matrix reveals that the disorders are genera lly positively correlated with each other on all the three tests, suggestin g considerable construct overlap. Specifically, passive-aggressive and schi zotypal disorders produce the most convergent correlations. On the MMPI-PD, however, schizoid is a relatively more discriminant disorder.