The Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology-Basic Questionnaire (DAPP-BQ) assesses 18 traits to provide a systematic representation of the overall domain of personality disorders. We tested the cross-cultural stability of the prediction that four higher-order factors (Emotional Dysregulation, Dissocial Behavior, Inhibitedness, and Compulsivity) underlie the 18 basic traits. A total of 81 patients who were primarily treated for an Axis II personality disorder and N = 166 healthy control patients completed the German version of the DAPP-BQ. Results clearly confirmed cross-cultural stability of the postulated four-factor structure in both samples, accounting for 74.7% (clinical sample), and 65.7% (nonclinical sample) of the total variance. All four higher-order factors showed specific correlational relationships with dimensional assessments of DSM-IV personality disorders.

There is a movement towards a dimensional classification of personality disorders (PD). However, data linking dimensional systems and the categorical system for classifying PD are lacking. In the present study, N = 165 normal subjects and N = 222 nonpsychotic in-patients (including N = 81 patients with a PD diagnosis) completed the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology-Basic Questionnaire (DAPP-BQ) measuring 18 PD traits. DSM-IV PD symptoms were assessed by SCID-II interviews. Group differences were analyzed by ANCOVA, and the relation between the dimensional and categorical approach was investigated by regression, ROC, and MDS analyses. Patients with PD exhibited elevated scores on all DAPP traits compared with controls. Patients without PD scored in between. Each DSM-IV PD could be described by a distinct profile of DAPP traits. Results support the assumption that the DAPP trait system can represent mean differences between clinically defined subgroups. The categorical system can be mapped onto the dimensional DAPP system with sufficient clinical specificity.