Modeling stability and change in borderline personality disorder symptoms using the revised Interpersonal Adjective Scales-Big Five (IASR-B5).

Overview

Personality disorders have been defined as "stable over time." However, research now supports marked change in the symptoms of these disorders and significant individual variability in the trajectories across time. Using the Longitudinal Study of Personality Disorders (Lenzenweger, 2006), we explore the ability of the Revised Interpersonal Adjective Scales--Big Five (IASR-B5; Trapnell & Wiggins, 1990) to predict individual variation in initial value and rate of change in borderline personality disorder symptoms. The dimensions of the IASR-B5 predict variability in initial symptoms and rates of change. Interaction effects emerged between Dominance and Conscientiousness, Love and Neuroticism, and Conscientiousness and Neuroticism in predicting initial symptoms; and between Dominance and Love and Love and Neuroticism in predicting rates of change, suggesting that the effects of broad domains of personality are not merely additive but conditional on each other.