Internal consistency, intercriterion overlap and diagnostic efficiency of criteria sets for DSM-IV schizotypal, borderline, avoidant and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders.

Objective: To evaluate performance characteristics of DSM-IV Personality Disorders (PDs) criteria.

Method: Six hundred and sixty-eight adults recruited for the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study (CLPS) were assessed with diagnostic interviews.

Results: Within-category inter-relatedness was evaluated by Cronbach's alpha and median intercriterion correlations (MIC). Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.47 to 0.87 (median=0.71); seven of the 10 PDs had alphas greater than 0.70. Between-category criterion overlap was evaluated by "inter-category" intercriterion correlations between all PD pairs (ICMIC). ICMIC values (median=0.08) were lower than MIC values (median=0.23). Diagnostic efficiency statistics (sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive power and negative predictive power were calculated for schizotypal, borderline, avoidant and obsessive-compulsive PDs.

Conclusion: DSM-IV PD criteria sets have some convergent validity and discriminant validity: criteria for individual PDs correlate better with each other than with criteria for other PDs. Diagnostic efficiency statistics provide guidance regarding usefulness of criteria for inclusion or exclusion.