Establishing the Substantive Interpretation of the GFP by Considering Evidence from Research on Personality Disorders and Animal Personality

Severity in the ICD-11 personality disorder model: Evaluation in a Spanish mixed sample

Severity is the main component of the ICD-11 personality disorder (PD) classification, but pertinent instruments have only recently been developed. We analyzed the psychometric properties of the ICD-11 Personality Disorder Severity scale (PDS-ICD-11) in a mixed sample of 726 community and clinical subjects. We also examined how the different components of the ICD-11 PD system -five trait domains, the borderline pattern specifier, and severity, all of them measured through self-reports- are interconnected and operate together. PDS-ICD-11 properties were adequate and similar to those of the original instrument. However, regressions and factor analyses showed a considerable overlap of severity with the five personality domains and the borderline specifier (72.6%). Bifactor modeling resulted in a general factor of PD (g-PD) that was not equivalent to severity nor improved criterion validity. The whole ICD-11 PD system, i.e., five personality domains, borderline, and severity, explained an average of 43.6% of variance of external measures of well-being, disability, and clinical problems, with severity contributing 4.8%. Suggestions to further improve the ICD-11 PD taxonomy include remodeling the present definition of severity to give more weight to the real-life consequences of traits.

The General Factor of Personality as Ego-Resiliency

It was originally hypothesized by Block that what has come to be known as the General Factor of Personality (GFP) reflects ego-resiliency. We test Block's hypothesis in two studies. In Study 1 a meta-analysis (N = 15,609) examining the relationship between the GFP and ego-resiliency/resilience was conducted. In Study 2 (N = 157) archival data from Block and Block was used to examine the association between rater judged ego-resiliency across childhood, adolescence, and into early adulthood and the GFP based on self-report in early adulthood. Using structural equation modeling for the meta-analytic data, the correlation between the GFP and ego-resiliency/resilience was estimated at r = 0.93. Using a trait-state occasion model to test the hypothesis in Study 2, the correlation between the GFP and rated ego-resiliency was estimated at r = 0.85. The results of the two studies offer substantial support for Block's original hypothesis. Given the strength of the associations between the GFP and ego-resiliency/resilience one may conclude that the two constructs largely reflect the same underlying phenomenon.

The "Big Everything": Integrating and investigating dimensional models of psychopathology, personality, personality pathology, and cognitive functioning

Common factors are increasingly used to model the structure of psychopathology ("p"), personality (General Factor of Personality [GFP]), pathological personality (General Factor of Pathological Personality [GFPP]), and intelligence ("g"). Using 4 waves spanning ages 18-29 in a cohort of college students (baseline n = 489), this study used indicators of psychopathology, personality, pathological personality, and cognitive functioning to compare models that included Cognitive Functioning, p, GFP, GFPP, and a "Big Everything" factor (which included cross-domain measures as indicators). GFP, GFPP, and p exhibited substantial overlap, and the Big Everything factor accounted for considerable variance in psychopathology, personality, and pathological personality indicators. Only a self-report measure of cognitive functioning loaded significantly onto the Big Everything. This study highlights concerns in the pursuit of identifying and reifying common factors based on the modeling of residual variances and limitations of using factor modeling to determine the structure of psychologically relevant phenomena. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).