The Perceived Problems of People With Subclinical Personality Disorders: A Mental Health Literacy Study

Abstract

This study looked at lay theories of how people with personality disorders (PDs) are perceived to cope with their interpersonal relationships. In all, 213 participants read 14 vignettes derived from Oldham's and Morris's (2000) book describing DSM III personality disorders for a popular audience. Participants were invited to do six ratings, including how happy each person in each vignette appeared to be and how successful at establishing long-term relationships. Effect sizes for each question across the 14 vignettes were small to medium. The six ratings factored into a single social adjustment scale, and there were many differences across the PDs on this measure. Those with dependent PD were judged as most successful in their social relationships while those who were schizoid PD were judged as least successful. A similar analysis using the three higher order clusters showed significant differences: Cluster C disordered people were judged as better adjusted than Cluster A people. Limitations of the methodology and implications are discussed.