Self-other disagreement in personality assessment: significance and prognostic value

Personality disorders in older adults: Differences in self-informant ratings

Previous research on self-informant reports in assessing personality disorders (PDs) has been mainly focused on adults, leaving older adults under-studied. We examined self-informant agreement in PD screening among older adults (≥60 years) using the Gerontological Personality disorders Scale (GPS). Potential differences such as who reports more personality pathology on a PD screener (i.e., GPS), item accessibility and the effect of relational aspects were studied as well. Data of 326 older adult-informant dyads, of which the older adults were sampled from five general practices in the Netherlands, were used. Results indicate that self-informant agreement ranged from r = 0.26-0.73, with lower concordance on the GPS-subscale measuring intrapersonal aspects of personality pathology. Informants were more sensitive to habitual pathological personality features than older adults. Two GPS items showed differential item functioning across self- and informant-report. Of relational aspects, only congeniality affected the GPS-iv scores; lower ratings on congeniality were associated with higher GPS-iv scores (i.e., higher reporting of personality problems).

Self-, other-, and meta-perceptions of personality: Relations with burnout symptoms and eudaimonic workplace well-being

The present study examined whether disagreement between self-, other-, and meta-perceptions of personality was related to burnout symptoms and eudaimonic workplace well-being. We expected disagreement in personality perceptions to explain incremental variance in burnout symptoms and eudaimonic workplace well-being beyond the main effects of the different personality ratings. Participants were 459 Dutch employees and their 906 colleagues (who provided other ratings of personality). The results, based on polynomial regression with response surface analyses, highlighted strong main effects of self-rated personality traits in relation to burnout symptoms and eudaimonic workplace well-being. This study provides, as far as we know, the first empirical evidence that self-rated Honesty-Humility negatively predicts burnout symptoms. Results showed little evidence on incremental effects of disagreement between personality perceptions, with one clear exception: when respondents misjudged how their colleagues would rate them on Honesty-Humility (i.e., discrepancy between meta- and other-perceptions), respondents experienced more feelings of burnout and less eudaimonic workplace well-being. Our study contributes to the literature by providing evidence that discrepancies between meta- and other-perceptions of Honesty-Humility affect employee well-being (i.e., burnout symptoms and eudaimonic workplace well-being).

Blissfully Blind or Painfully Aware? Exploring the Beliefs People With Interpersonal Problems Have About Their Reputation

OBJECTIVE

Problematic interpersonal behavior might stem from and be maintained by the beliefs people have about how others see them (i.e., metaperceptions). The current study tested whether people with interpersonal problems formed more or less accurate metaperceptions about their personality (meta-accuracy), whether they thought others saw them in more or less positive ways (positivity), and whether they underestimated or overestimated how much others saw them as they saw themselves (transparency).

METHOD

Participants (N_Time1  = 189; N_Time2  = 175; M_age  = 19.78; 36% male) completed a measure of interpersonal problems and provided personality judgments and metaperceptions for a group of peers after a first impression and after 4 months of acquaintanceship.

RESULTS

Generalized distress was associated with less positive metaperceptions at both times and with higher meta-accuracy after 4 months. Dominance problems were not associated with meta-accuracy, positivity, or transparency after a first impression, but dominance was linked to lower meta-accuracy and lower positivity after 4 months. Affiliation problems were associated with higher meta-accuracy after a first impression and with higher positivity and transparency at both times.

CONCLUSIONS

Metaperceptions were linked to interpersonal problems, and these expectations might partially explain some maladaptive patterns of behavior.

Do Psychologically Adjusted Individuals Know What Other People Really Think About Them? The Link Between Psychological Adjustment and Meta-Accuracy

Do psychologically adjusted individuals know what other people think about them? Participants rated their own personality and levels of intrapersonal and interpersonal adjustment and also estimated how a new acquaintance and friends perceived them on core personality traits. These individuals rated the participant’s personality and friends described participants’ adjustment. Intrapersonally and interpersonally adjusted individuals were aware of the positive rather than the distinctive and potentially negative impressions they made, although people who were interpersonally adjusted (e.g., socially skilled) had insight into what made them distinctive in their friends’ eyes. Psychologically adjusted individuals also tended to overestimate their transparency, meaning they assumed others saw them as they saw themselves more so than others actually did. Interestingly, effects depended somewhat on who reported on adjustment, such that friend-reported adjustment was linked to accuracy, whereas self-reported adjustment was linked to transparency. Implications for the adaptiveness of accuracy are discussed.

Agreement Between Self- and Informant-Reported Ratings of Personality Traits: The Moderating Effects of Major Depressive and/or Panic Disorder

Several personality traits are risk factors for psychopathology. As symptoms of psychopathology may influence self-rated personality, informant reports of personality are also sometimes collected. However, little is known about self-informant agreement in individuals with anxiety and/or depression. We investigated whether self-informant agreement on positive and negative affectivity (PA and NA) and anxiety sensitivity differs for individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) and/or panic disorder (PD; total n = 117). Informant- and self-reported PA was correlated among those with MDD, but not among those without MDD. Informant- and self-reported anxiety sensitivity was correlated among those with PD, but not among those without PD. Informant- and self-reported NA was correlated irrespective of diagnosis. Results indicate that the agreement of self- and informant-reported personality may vary as a function of depression and/or anxiety disorders.

The Role of Metaperception in Personality Disorders: Do People with Personality Problems Know How Others Experience Their Personality?

Do people with personality problems have insight into how others experience them? In a large community sample of adults (N = 641), the authors examined whether people with personality disorder (PD) symptoms were aware of how a close acquaintance (i.e., a romantic partner, family member, or friend) perceived them by measuring participants' metaperceptions and self-perceptions as well as their acquaintance's impression of them on Five-Factor Model traits. Compared to people with fewer PD symptoms, people with more PD symptoms tended to be less accurate and tended to overestimate the negativity of the impressions they made on their acquaintance, especially for the traits of extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Interestingly, these individuals did not necessarily assume that their acquaintance perceived them as they perceived themselves; instead, poor insight was likely due to their inability to detect or utilize information other than their self-perceptions. Implications for the conceptualization, measurement, and treatment of PDs are discussed.

When father doesn't know best: selective disagreement between self-report and informant report of the broad autism phenotype in parents of a child with autism

The Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ) is a reliable tool for identifying three autism-related traits-social aloofness, pragmatic language abnormalities and rigid personality--within families of a person with autism and the general population. Although little is known concerning agreement between self-report and informant report versions of the BAPQ, identifying individual characteristics affecting agreement between the two can highlight important considerations for maximizing its yield, particularly when only one version is administered. Here, analysis of self-report and informant report of the BAPQ completed by 444 parents of a child with autism revealed moderate to strong agreement between the two versions for all three broad autism phenotype (BAP) traits when the self-reporting parent did not possess the trait being assessed. In contrast, disagreement selectively occurred when the assessed parent was positive for the BAP trait being rated. This pattern was driven primarily by fathers who were positive for a BAP trait endorsing lower levels of that trait relative to informant report. This discrepancy did not occur for mothers, nor did it occur for fathers lacking BAP traits. Because this pattern was specific to fathers positive for BAP traits, it likely reflects selective "blind spots" in their self-reporting and not poorer self-reporting by fathers more broadly, nor a general tendency of overreporting by informant mothers. The presence of BAP traits in informing parents, however, largely did not reduce agreement between self-report and informant report. In sum, self-report may underestimate the presence of BAP traits in fathers but is generally consistent with informant report for mothers.

Self-other knowledge asymmetries in personality pathology

OBJECTIVE

Self-reports of personality provide valid information about personality disorders (PDs). However, informant reports provide information about PDs that self-reports alone do not provide. The current article examines whether and when one perspective is more valid than the other in identifying PDs.

METHOD

Using a representative sample of adults 55 to 65 years of age (N = 991; 45% males), we compared the validity of self- and informant (e.g., spouse, family, or friend) reports of the Five-Factor Model traits in predicting PD scores (i.e., composite of interviewer, self-, and informant reports of PDs).

RESULTS

Self-reports (particularly of Neuroticism) were more valid than informant reports for most internalizing PDs (i.e., PDs defined by high Neuroticism). Informant reports (particularly of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness) were more valid than self-reports for externalizing and/or antagonistic PDs (i.e., PDs defined by low Agreeableness and Conscientiousness). Neither report was consistently more valid for thought disorder PDs (i.e., PDs defined by low Extraversion). However, informant reports (particularly of Agreeableness) were more valid than self-reports for PDs that were both internalizing and externalizing (i.e., PDs defined by high Neuroticism and low Agreeableness).

CONCLUSIONS

The intrapersonal and interpersonal manifestations of PDs differ, and these differences influence who knows more about pathology.

Informant discrepancies in adult social anxiety disorder assessments: links with contextual variations in observed behavior

Multi-informant assessments of adult psychopathology often result in discrepancies among informants' reports. Among 157 adults meeting criteria for either the generalized (n = 106) or nongeneralized (n = 51) social anxiety disorder (SAD) subtype, we examined whether discrepancies between patients' and clinicians' reports of patients' symptoms related to variations in both SAD subtype and expressions of social skills deficits across multiple social interaction tasks. Latent class analyses revealed two behavioral patterns: (a) context-specific social skills deficits and (b) cross-context social skills deficits. Similarly, patients' symptom reports could be characterized by concordance or discordance with clinicians' reports. Patient-clinician concordance on relatively high levels of patients' symptoms related to an increased likelihood of the patient meeting criteria for the generalized relative to nongeneralized subtype. Further, patient-clinician concordance on relatively high levels of patients' symptoms related to an increased likelihood of consistently exhibiting social skills deficits across social interaction tasks (relative to context-specific social skills deficits). These relations were robust in accounting for patient age, clinical severity, and Axis I and II comorbidity. Further, clinical severity did not completely explain variability in patients' behavior on laboratory tasks or discrepancies between patient and clinician reports. Findings provide the first laboratory-based support for the ability of informant discrepancies to indicate cross-contextual variability in clinical adult assessments, and the first of any developmental period to indicate this for SAD assessments. These findings have important implications for clinical assessment and developmental psychopathology research.

Normal people in clinical practice: a general factor of personality in biproportional scaling and its practical relevance

To investigate the clinical relevance of absolute scaling in personality assessment, Hofstee and Ten Berge's (2004) biproportional scaling method was applied to 3 clinical samples and compared with relative scaling in traditional analyses. In the first sample, 80 psychotherapy clients provided self-reports as well as reports by 3 informants, resulting in 320 ratings of the Dutch short form of the MMPI (NVM). In the second sample, 96 psychotherapy clients provided self-reports and informant reports, resulting in 384 Five-Factor Personality Inventory (FFPI) ratings. In the third sample, 95 clients provided self-reports and informant reports, resulting in 380 ratings of the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). In Part I of the study, the personality structure based on biproportional scaling was examined by replicating Hofstee, Barelds, and Ten Berge (2006). In Part II, this personality structure as well as self-informant distances and self-informant likenesses were related to symptoms, personality pathology, and level of functioning. The results confirmed the presence of a general factor of personality in absolute scaling, which appears to reflect social fitness and the absence of severe psychopathology. This factor was significantly associated with fewer symptoms and better functioning in all 3 samples. The personality pathology results were only significant in the FFPI sample. Self-informant distance and self-informant likeness were primarily associated with symptoms. A relationship between poor social fitness and insecure early attachment was suggested in 3 case studies.