An investigation into the internal structure of DSM-III antisocial personality disorder

Abstract

The present study examined the DSM-III antisocial personality disorder by examining endorsements of each of the DSM-III criteria to obtain various indices, including interrater reliability, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive power, alpha levels, and item (criterion)-total correlations. 112 psychiatric inpatients were rated on the Structured Interview for DSM-III Personality. 11 patients were accorded a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, 65 had other forms of personality disorders, and 36 received no personality disorder diagnosis. The antisocial criteria successfully discriminated patients with antisocial personality disorder from those without the diagnosis. Strong interrater reliability and reasonable alpha levels were achieved. Although some criteria were successful in identifying patients with and without a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, the criteria were generally better at predicting the absence of antisocial personality disorder.