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Construct Validation Theory Applied to the Study of Personality Dysfunction
Author(s) -
Zapolski Tamika C. B.,
Guller Leila,
Smith Gregory T.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2012.00772.x
Subject(s) - personality , psychology , construct (python library) , construct validity , homogeneous , meaning (existential) , personality disorders , personality assessment inventory , psychometrics , medical diagnosis , cognitive psychology , clinical psychology , social psychology , psychotherapist , computer science , medicine , physics , pathology , thermodynamics , programming language
The authors review theory validation and construct validation principles as related to the study of personality dysfunction. Historically, personality disorders have been understood to be syndromes of heterogeneous symptoms. The authors argue that the syndrome approach to description results in diagnoses of unclear meaning and constrained validity. The alternative approach of describing personality dysfunction in terms of homogeneous dimensions of functioning avoids the problems of the syndromal approach and has been shown to provide more valid description and diagnosis. The authors further argue that description based on homogeneous dimensions of personality function/dysfunction is more useful because it provides direct connections to validated treatments.