The Personality Disorder Features Screener (PDFS-56)

Abstract

The Personality Disorder Features Screener (PDFS-56) is a 56-item self-report questionnaire developed primarily for research purposes to measure nonclinical or subclinical features related to the ten specific personality disorders defined in the DSM-IV-TR (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). The PDFS-56 is characterized as a simplified and efficient version of previous personality disorder screening questionnaires, making it highly suitable for use with large, non-clinical samples where comprehensive diagnostic interviews are impractical.

Participants respond to items using a 4-point response scale, indicating their level of agreement, thereby providing a dimensional score reflective of personality adjustment or psychopathology features across the spectrum of DSM-IV criteria.

Keywords

Personality Disorder Features Screener, PDFS-56, Personality Disorder, DSM-IV-TR, Screening, Questionnaire, Nonclinical samples, Psychopathology, Personality traits, Psychological assessment.

Authors

Bjorn Meyer, Maria K. Enstrom, Mona Harstveit, David P. Bowles, Christopher G. Beevers.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the PDFS-56 is to efficiently measure the presence of subclinical or nonclinical traits corresponding to the ten specific personality disorders outlined in the DSM-IV-TR classification system. This instrument allows researchers to quantify dimensional aspects of maladaptive personality characteristics in populations that do not necessarily meet full clinical diagnostic thresholds.

It was explicitly designed to be a streamlined alternative to more exhaustive personality disorder assessment tools, making it particularly valuable for large-scale research studies involving general or specialized non-clinical populations, such as the study on fashion models where it was utilized to assess personality adjustment.

Construct

The PDFS-56 measures 10 distinct personality disorder constructs derived directly from the criteria established in the DSM-IV-TR, ensuring coverage of all ten disorders categorized across the three clusters:

• Cluster A (Odd/Eccentric): Paranoid, Schizoid, Schizotypal.

• Cluster B (Dramatic/Emotional/Erratic): Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, Narcissistic.

• Cluster C (Anxious/Fearful): Avoidant, Dependent, Obsessive-Compulsive.

The 56 items are intended to provide comprehensive but simplified coverage of the core features associated with each of these 10 diagnostic categories, focusing on dimensional trait expression rather than categorical diagnosis.

Validity

While specific psychometric data regarding concurrent or predictive validity were not detailed in the immediate source description, the scale is conceptually designed to possess high face and content validity. Its items are derived directly from the recognized clinical features of the ten personality disorders listed in the DSM-IV-TR, supporting its relevance to the constructs it aims to measure.

As a screening instrument, its validity is established through its utility in identifying individuals in non-clinical settings who exhibit elevated levels of maladaptive personality traits, which may warrant further clinical investigation. Subsequent research utilizing the PDFS-56 would typically assess its ability to correlate highly with established, comprehensive personality disorder inventories (concurrent validity).

Reliability

The reliability of the PDFS-56, although specific coefficients (such as Cronbach’s alpha or test-retest reliability) are not detailed in the source content, is expected to meet the standards required for research questionnaires used in psychological assessment. Reliability is crucial for ensuring that the scores obtained for each of the 10 distinct personality features are internally consistent and stable over time.

For a reliable instrument of this nature, researchers would anticipate adequate internal consistency within the items contributing to each subscale (e.g., the items related to Narcissism or Borderline features), particularly when administered within non-clinical samples where the manifestation of these traits might be less intense than in clinical populations.

Factor Analysis

The theoretical foundation of the PDFS-56 implies an underlying factor structure that aligns closely with the 10 personality disorder categories defined by the DSM-IV-TR. This suggests that the scale is intended to be multidimensional, with 10 distinct, though potentially correlated, factors.

However, the source material does not provide details of a specific exploratory or confirmatory factor analysis conducted to empirically validate this 10-factor structure across the 56 items. Research utilizing the PDFS-56 would typically involve factor analysis to confirm that the simplified items adequately capture the intended complexity of the diagnostic criteria and maintain separation between the different personality dimensions.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report Screening Questionnaire

Format: 56 items using a 4-point Likert-type response scale.

Language Available: English (as presented in the source publication).

Population Group: Non-clinical samples.

Age Group: Adults (Implied by the nature of personality disorder assessment).

Population Details: Developed primarily for research use with the general population or specialized non-clinical groups (e.g., college students, occupational groups) to measure subclinical personality traits.

Test Methodology: Participants rate their level of agreement with each statement on a 4-point scale:

1. Disagreed strongly (1)

2. Disagreed slightly (2)

3. Agreed slightly (3)

4. Agreed strongly (4)

Keywords

Psychological assessment, DSM-IV-TR, Personality traits, Psychometrics, Screening instrument, Cluster A, Cluster B, Cluster C, Personality adjustment.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in the source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in the source material.

Correspondence Address: Based on the source publication affiliations: City University, London, UK; Sheffield Hallam University, UK; and University of Texas at Austin, USA.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: The scale was described and utilized in a published study in 2007, building upon earlier research dating back to 2000 and 2002.

Permissions & Fee: Not specified in the source material. Since the scale was published in an academic journal for research purposes, researchers seeking to utilize the PDFS-56 should contact the corresponding author, Bjorn Meyer, for details regarding usage permissions and potential fees.

Reference’s

• Meyer, B., Enstrom, M. K., Harstveit, M., Bowles, D. P., & Beevers, C. G. (2007). Happiness and despair on the catwalk: Need satisfaction, well-being, and personality adjustment among fashion models. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 2(1), 2–17.

• American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author (DSM-IV-TR).

• Meyer, B. (2002). [Reference to previous screening questionnaire work].

• Meyer, B., & Carver, C. S. (2000). [Reference to previous screening questionnaire work].

• Meyer et al. (2005). [Reference to previous screening questionnaire work].

Items of the The Personality Disorder Features Screener (PDFS-56).

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. I have a hard time trusting a partner because I know how common it is that they might cheat or secretly deceive me.

2. It happens quite often that people want to take advantage of me, but I’m usually good at detecting this and doing something about it.

3. I’m probably a bit more suspicious than the average person, but that means that I get tricked less easily.

4. Most people are much less trustworthy (and more selfish) than they would like you to believe.

5. I don’t easily share secrets with others because they tend to use it against you at a later time.

6. I am known as a rather cold, unemotional person, but that’s just who I am.

7. I actually don’t have real friends and that’s okay with me.

8. I prefer to spend time on my own rather than with other people, and most of my hobbies require little contact with others.

9. Other people are simply not very important to me (including family members).

10. I don’t feel comfortable in social situations because I don’t trust others.

11. I’m aware that others often think of me as strange, odd, peculiar, or bizarre because of the way I dress or act.

12. My beliefs and ideas may seem strange, odd, or eccentric to others (but I like them).

13. My sense of humor is very different from the majority and people often ‘‘don’t get it’’ or ‘‘don’t get me.’’

14. I can often sense or see special things or detect meanings that other people just don’t notice.

15. I’ve broken the law many times.

16. If someone seriously annoys me or gets in my way, I can get quite nasty with them (and I’m not a weak kind of person who regrets it later!).

17. I’m good at tricking others or making them believe something that isn’t true, and I use this skill for my benefit.

18. If I’m honest, I have to say that I often lie or cheat to get ahead in life.

19. I’m not the kind of person who is plagued by guilt or shame just because I might have upset someone.

20. As a child I used to get into a lot of trouble for ‘‘bad’’ behaviour (fighting, lying, stealing, etc.).

21. My emotions are like a roller-coaster: very intense and quickly going from very high to very low.

22. Often people that I thought would be great turn out to be horrible.

23. When I’m really stressed, I sometimes start to feel strange, weird, or paranoid (as if the whole world is against me).

24. I sometimes feel so desperate or awful that I have thoughts of wanting to harm or even kill myself.

25. My relationships are usually extremely intense, stormy, emotional, and unstable.

26. I often get so angry or even hateful that I hardly recognize myself later.

27. I get panicky or desperate when I think someone close will leave me or abandon me.

28. I often feel empty inside: not sure who I am or where I’m going with my life.

29. If something upsets me, my emotions can get out of control rather easily.

30. I often do things for a kick or a thrill even though I know they may be self-damaging (e.g., having sex with people I hardly know, doing drugs, getting extremely drunk).

31. I’m a ‘‘social butterfly’’ who can easily show whatever emotions the situation requires.

32. I love being the ‘‘life of the party,’’ I’m a born entertainer!

33. I can be very sexy or seductive, and I know how to use it!

34. Most people who meet me almost instantly love me because I’m such a charming person!

35. Some people may consider me to be overly dramatic, but that’s just my style!

36. I may not be the most precise, but when I speak it’s always animated, full of passion, charm, and flair.

37. I’m a multi-talented person who is actually far more gifted than average people.

38. Other people may find me a bit grandiose or ‘‘full of myself,’’ but if I’m perfectly honest I actually do think that I’m in many ways more special or better than average people.

39. Even though they may not always admit it, other people often admire me because of my abilities or talents.

40. Other people at times find me arrogant, but that’s really their problem!

41. I’m sure that if I wanted to, I could achieve extreme heights of success, power, or brilliance in life.

42. I often feel somewhat inferior or inadequate in social situations.

43. I’m socially quite shy, restrained, or inhibited.

44. I don’t like getting involved with other people because I often feel they may ridicule or not accept me.

45. I find it hard to relax when I’m around others because I always feel they may reject or disapprove of me.

46. I’m very sensitive to other people’s criticism.

47. I can be a bit submissive, needy, or clingy in close relationships, but I try to not let that become a problem.

48. I’m not good at making decisions by myself; I need someone trusted to make the decisions for me.

49. It’s hard for me to disagree with others because I fear that if I disagree, they may dislike me.

50. If I were all alone, without a supportive partner, I probably would feel quite helpless and unable to make it.

51. Being in a close relationship is extremely important to me; it gives my life purpose and direction.

52. I often insist that things be done exactly my way, and I get annoyed when other people try to ‘‘cut corners’’ or perform a job poorly.

53. I’m known to be a bit of a perfectionist or ‘‘control freak.’’

54. My standards for performance are extremely high, I’m never satisfied with ‘‘just getting the job done’’; it needs to be done very, very well.

55. I like to attend to details, rules, lists, order, and schedules, in order to ensure that everything proceeds correctly, without errors.

56. I can be quite stubborn, but it’s usually in the service of doing things the right way and not compromising my high standards.