Pathological Personality Traits Predicting Interpersonal and Functional Impairment among College Students

Personality is defined as the characteristic set of behaviors, cognitions, and emotional patterns that evolve from biological and environmental factors. A personality disorder (PD) is defined by possessing pathological personality traits that impair an individual’s ability to function. Increasing dissatisfaction with categorical PD diagnoses has led to the development of dimensional PD frameworks, such as the Alternative Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD). The current study aimed to investigate pathological personality traits and their prediction of functional impairment over time. A secondary aim of the current study was to assess whether quality of life moderates the relationship between personality trait pathology and impairment. We hypothesized that Antagonism and Detachment traits would be highly associated with the interpersonal domain of the LPFS-SR. In addition, it was hypothesized that quality of life would moderate the relationship between pathological personality and level of impairment. Results revealed that personality traits and impairment were correlated with each other at all time points. Additionally, quality of life moderated the relationship between Negative Affectivity, Detachment, and Disinhibition and impairment for Time 2, and Negative Affectivity and Disinhibition on impairment for Time 3. Since quality of life moderated these relationships, potential intervention points may be beneficial to limit the magnitude of impairment an individual may feel.