Network Analyses of the Domains and Items of Personality Inventory for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition-Brief Form (PID-5-BF)

The study used network analysis to examine the properties of the five domains (negative affect, detachment, antagonism, disinhibition, and psychoticism) and the 25 items in the Personality Inventory for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition, Brief Form (PID-5-BF). Adults (N = 502) from the general Australian community completed the PID-5-BF. Network analysis involving the five domains (including age and gender as covariates) indicated that negative affectivity was the most central domain, followed by psychoticism. For the edges, the effect sizes were moderate for negative affectivity with detachment and psychoticism, and disinhibition with psychoticism. The network analysis that involved the 25 PID-5-BF items indicated that the most central items were "irresponsible" (in the disinhibition domain), followed in sequence by "worry" and "emotional easily" (both in the negative affectivity domain). Within the different domains, the most central items for negative affectivity, detachment, antagonism, disinhibition, and psychoticism domains were "worry," "not close to people," "take advantage of others," "irresponsible," and "things unreal/more real," respectively. There were more significant within-domain and less significant cross-domain associations for negative affectivity, disinhibition, and psychoticism. Overall, our study has revealed possible trait-to-trait and behavior-to-behavior relationships that could underlie the interaction of the behaviors and traits associated generally with personality disorders, and the specific traits and behaviors that are most influential in triggering and activating personality disorders. Most critically, our findings indicated that individuals with more serious problems related to being irresponsible, worry and getting upset easily are more likely to demonstrate or to be at risk for severe personality psychopathology and personality disorders.