| Abstract |
The need for understanding psychopathology has been the main topic among the scientific community as it stimulates the interest in an attempt to provide adequate answers in a series of related consequences related to mental health issues among the general population. Among the spectrum of psychopathological entities that lies within the field of psychopathology, complexity and heterogeneity are among the highest difficulties but also the intriguing challenge when it comes to understand them. Among those, personality disorders are considered the most researched and confronting topic of study within psychopathology.
Until today numerous theoretical frameworks have been developed in an attempt to describe personality disorders. For example, the categorical model, the dimensional model, the RDoC, and recently the HiTOP model. These are all considered to be previous but also more recent attempts in organizing personality disorders with the psychopathology framework. A common framework in the majority of these models is considered their hierarchical structure (higher order domains-lower order facets) to address the maladaptive aspects of person’s behavior. However, developing and validating such a breadth of theoretical models is rather a longitudinal process requiring constantly new scientific research.
Consequently, the need for the development of psychometric tools following such comprehensive and complicating models became a necessity. For that, personality inventories are to be developed through a series of complicating psychometric techniques to provide adequate psychometric properties. For example, factor analysis (EFA-CFA) and even more advanced complicated psychometric techniques such as exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) are applied in psychometric practice to present robust psychometric inventories for assessing personality disorders.
Over the last decade following the revision of DSM-5 in 2013 a new theoretical approach has emerged following a long-standing argument over the categorical representation of personality disorders in DSM. The alternative model of personality disorders (AMPD) is a new dimensional perspective for understanding and organizing personality disorders placing them at the opposite end of normal personality dimensions. Predominant theoretical model in organizing personality disorders has been the five-factor model (FFM). Following this perspective, personality disorders are organized in a hierarchical way within 25 lower facets and 5 higher order domains, enrapturing the maladaptive characteristics within the personality disorders. For the assessment of AMPD, the DSM-5 task force has developed the Personality Diagnostic Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5).
Research was conducted via internet through social media (facebook, twitter, Instagram) as well as in vivo administration solely in Greek population. In total, participants were more than 1400 Greek individuals from different areas of the country. Apart from the construction phase, four separate additional research phases were conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties (reliability and validity) of the new inventory. Final analyses have confirmed the successful application of ESEM in replicating the AMPD within the new inventory, thus verifying the hierarchical structure of the model (5 higher order domains and 25 lower facets). Conducting additional studies to test reliability and validity of the new instrument, have confirmed its psychometric properties. More than that, they have confirmed the relationship between the new instrument with a series of well-established and robust personality inventories (Big Five Model, HEXACO, D-Factor, SPQ-Schizotypy Personality Inventory), as well as with other general psychopathology inventories (BSI-Brief Symptoms Inventory).
The main target of this thesis has been the development of a new inventory for the assessment of personality disorders in the Greek cultural context following the AMPD. This is considered to be the first attempt in the Greek psychometric literature to address the AMDP in the Greek culture. More than that, it is considered a psychometric challenge as it tries to adopt and combine traditional factor analytic strategies (EFA-CFA) as well more sophisticated and advance methodology (ESEM).
As such, this PhD thesis is an attempt to contribute further towards the universal representation and validation of AMPD as a solid scientific framework for personality disorders and even more to provide clinicians and scientific research with a robust psychometric inventory as valuable tool in the effective assessment and diagnosis of personality disorders.
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