Personality Disorder Features Through the Life Course

Abstract

Personality Disorders have proved to be more fluid through the life course than previously thought. However, because analyses have usually been undertaken at the level of diagnostic categories, relevant findings may be obscured. An examination at the criteria level could bypass arbitrary aggregations of heterogeneous traits and thus offer more accurate information. To this end, we administered the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4+ (PDQ-4+) to 1,477 patients aged 15 to 82. Nine of 12 disorders declined to some extent over the lifespan, but the evolution of individual criteria diverged within categories. At this level, 45 of 93 criteria showed age-related decreases, whereas only seven presented increases. A clearer picture is offered of the PD traits that change and those that remain stable. Thus, pathological features are not only more fluid, but developmentally more heterogeneous than previously believed.

Personality Traits and Personality Disorders in Late Middle and Old Age: Do They Remain Stable? A Literature Review

“…Three studies support the notion that features of personality disorders are susceptible to rank-order and mean-level changes over the course of a person's lifetime (Engels, Duijssens, Harringsma, & van Putten, 2003;Gutiérrez et al, 2012;Ullrich & Coid, 2009). Engels and coworkers (2003) and Ulrich and Coïd (2009) showed an increase of schizoid and obsessive-compulsive traits as a person becomes older.…”

Male Inmate Profiles and Their Biological Correlates

“…It comprises older people who, unlike subjects in the other groups, had few incarcerations in the last year, few offences without judicial intervention, relatively few psychiatric disorders, and, most particularly, no PD. It might be suggested that these differences are due solely to the more advanced age of people in this group as SUD,70 criminality,29 and cluster B PD71,72 have been consistently reported to decrease with age. Still, the small numbers of relationships and separations, psychiatric consultations and hospitalizations, and low criminal history scores strongly suggest that this group constitutes a distinct profile.…”

Aging: Empirical Contribution: A Longitudinal Analysis of Personality Disorder Dimensions and Personality Traits in a Community Sample of Older Adults: Perspectives From Selves and Informants

“…Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of PD, however, have usually failed to find support for the level of stability implied by the DSM definitions. Cross-sectional studies have generally concluded that many PDs are less prevalent among older adults than younger and/or middle-aged adults (Cohen et al, 1994; Coid, Yang, Tyrer, Roberts, & Ullrich, 2006; Gutiérrez et al, 2012; Samuels et al, 2002; Segal, Hook, & Coolidge, 2001); and longitudinal evidence suggests that, on average, most PDs show mean-level decreases over time in both clinical (Ferro, Klein, Schwartz, Kasch, & Leader, 1998; Grilo et al, 2004) and nonclinical samples (Crawford et al, 2005; Johnson et al, 2000; Lenzenweger, Johnson, & Willett, 2004). In short, self-reported data suggest that many PDs do “become less evident or remit with age,” as stated in the DSM-IV-TR (American Psychiatric Association, 2000, p. 688).…”