The General Assessment of Personality Disorder (GAPD): Factor Structure, Incremental Validity of Self-Pathology, and Relations toDSM–IVPersonality Disorders

Abstract

Recent developments in the classification of personality disorder, especially moves toward more dimensional systems, create the need to assess general personality disorder apart from individual differences in personality pathology. The General Assessment of Personality Disorder (GAPD) is a self-report questionnaire designed to evaluate general personality disorder. The measure evaluates 2 major components of disordered personality: self or identity problems and interpersonal dysfunction. This study explores whether there is a single factor reflecting general personality pathology as proposed by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.), whether self-pathology has incremental validity over interpersonal pathology as measured by GAPD, and whether GAPD scales relate significantly to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed. [DSM-IV]) personality disorders. Based on responses from a German psychiatric sample of 149 participants, parallel analysis yielded a 1-factor model. Self Pathology scales of the GAPD increased the predictive validity of the Interpersonal Pathology scales of the GAPD. The GAPD scales showed a moderate to high correlation for 9 of 12 DSM-IV personality disorders.

The Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders: A Clinical Application

“…Furthermore, self pathology has been shown to have incremental validity over interpersonal pathology in predicting overall severity of personality pathology (35), so both components are represented in the DSM-5 Level of Personality Functioning Scale. The severity of impairment in self and interpersonal functioning also has predicted important factors such as treatment utilization and treatment course and outcome (e.g., 27, 33-39); thus, personality functioning is measured on a dimensional scale of severity in the Alternative Model.…”

Validity of the DSM–5 Levels of Personality Functioning Scale–Self Report

“…General Assessment of Personality Disorder (GAPD; Livesley, 2009) contains 144 items loading onto 19 subscales loading onto two primary higher-order factors. Like the SIPP, however, the GAPD scales are strongly intercorrelated (Hentschel & Livesley, 2013).…”

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

“…At present it is impossible to provide an unambiguous answer to the question of whether the dimensional model suggested in DSM-5 illustrates the structure of NPD better than did the previous categorical approach in accordance with DSM-IV-TR. A newly developed instrument for measuring personality functioning is currently undergoing evaluation in the form of the General Assessment of Personality Disorder (GAPD; Hentschel & Livesley, 2013), but further research is needed.…”