Circumplex models have organized interpersonal behavior along 2 orthogonal dimensions--communion (which emphasizes connection between people) and agency (which emphasizes one person's influence over the other). However, many empirical studies have disconfirmed certain predictions from these models. We therefore revised the model in 4 ways that highlight interpersonal motives. In our revision: (a) the negative pole of communion is indifference, not hostility; (b) a given behavior invites (not evokes) a desired reaction from the partner; (c) the complement of a behavior is a reaction that would satisfy the motive behind that behavior; (d) noncomplementary reactions induce negative affect. If the motive is unclear, the meaning of the behavior is ambiguous. This ambiguity helps explain failures in social support, miscommunications in everyday life, and features of most personality disorders. The model emphasizes measurable individual differences: Reactions that are complementary for one person need not be complementary for another.

The interpersonal circumplex (IPC) was recommended as a personality trait dimensional model with good potential to identify the phenomenological scope of personality disorders whose core dysfunction involves maladaptive expression of interpersonal traits. The IPC was then applied to the reconceptualization of dependent personality and dependent personality disorder. In Study 1, Pincus and Gurtman's (1995) three interpersonal vectors of dependency were validated via factor analyses conducted on two large samples (N = 921; N = 472) and a reliable self-report measure, the 3 Vector Dependency Inventory (3VDI) was constructed. In Study 2, two samples (N = 103; N = 122) of individuals identified as predominantly endorsing submissive dependence, exploitable dependence, or love dependence, or who were low in aspects of dependency were compared via ANOVA and chi-square analyses on parental representations, adult attachment styles, loneliness, and pathological attachment. Submissive dependence was associated with higher scores on maladaptive constructs (fearful attachment, pathological attachment, and loneliness) and was also associated with lower parental affiliation and higher maternal control. Love dependence was associated with lower scores on maladaptive constructs and higher scores on secure attachment and parental affiliation. Variability in dependent phenomenology was related to its three component traits. Multiple perspectives on integrating love dependence, exploitable dependence, and submissive dependence into a reconceptualization of dependent personality disorder were articulated.

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Environmental variables are often assumed to constitute a qualitatively different domain from personality variables, and unlike personality variables, their structure is relatively poorly understood. We studied retrospective descriptions of families-of-origin in 3 samples using the items of Moos's (1974) Family Environment Scale (FES). Using cluster-analytic procedures, we generated a new set of 22 homogeneous item clusters for the FES at a level more specific than the 10 conventional FES scales, thus enhancing potential fidelity in the measurement of family environments. We show that these item composites are well organized under a 3-factor structure and that reports of family environments on these 3 factors correlate moderately with those of the Big Five personality factors that have the most analogous content. Results suggest possible homology between the structure of family environments and the structure of personality dispositions.

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